Lipid oxidation in high-pressure processed chicken breast during chill storage and subsequent heat treatment: effect of working pressure, packaging atmosphere and storage time

Chicken breast from the same animal (n=4) was subjected to high hydrostatic pressures of 200, 400 or 600 MPa for 5 min at 10 °C, and subsequently stored at 5 °C vacuum-packed or packed in air for 2 or 8 days in darkness. Following heating to 80 °C for 10 min in order to mimic the cooking of a chill-stored, high-pressure processed poultry product, formation of secondary lipid oxidation products were measured as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and as volatiles by solid phase micro extraction and gas chromatography with mass spectroscopic detection (SPME-GC-MS). High-pressure treatment at 400 MPa and especially 600 MPa led to a significant increase in secondary lipid oxidation products in the cooked product when compared to 200 MPa treatment and a non-pressurised control. The storage period had a significant influence on the formation of secondary lipid oxidation products (especially in the presence of oxygen in the packs stored for 8 days). Hexanal, octanal and nonanal were identified as lipid oxidation products, and may all be used as indicators of the development of “press-over-flavour” as shown by multivariate analysis. Hexanal showed particularly good correlation (R2=0.93) with the TBARS-values.