Torrymeter used to determine freshness on Chicken Breast Fillets

Title	Instrumental Methods for Differentiation of Frozen-thawed from Fresh Broiler Breast Fillets
Article Written by	Samooel Jung, Jae Cheong Lee, Yeonkuk Jung, Min Kyu Kim, Hwa-Young Son, Cheorun Jo
Research Done at	Chungnam National University, Korea
Published Date	Dec. 16, 2010
Species	frozen-thawed chicken breast fillet
Key Words	breast fillet, fresh, frozen-thawed, differentiation, instrument

What the research is about

Torrymeters can be used to differentiate between fresh and frozen-thawed chicken breast fillets:

• The study compared several instrumental methods and found the Torrymeter to be a rapid, easy to use, and reliable tool to differentiate between fresh and frozen-thawed chicken breast fillets.
• Frozen-thawed fillets had significantly lower Torrymeter values compared to fresh fillets throughout 5 days of refrigerated storage. Average values were 2.2 for frozen-thawed vs 11.2 for fresh.
• This differentiation is important for poultry processors and quality control personnel to ensure specifications are met and prevent quality issues from frozen-thawed meat.
• The Torrymeter measures electrical impedance which differs between fresh and frozen-thawed meat due to cell damage from ice crystals formed during freezing.
• This provides an easy way to improve quality control and ensure consumers receive high quality fresh chicken fillets. Preventing sale of frozen-thawed meat as fresh will improve customer satisfaction.

The results from this article indicates that both optical microscopy and Fish Freshness Meter (Torrymeter) measurement is an effective method to differentiate between fresh and frozen-thawed breast fillets. However, optical microscopy may be difficult to implement since it requires much time and effort. The determination of the Torrymeter value is the easiest and most rapid instrumental method among those tested for the differentiation of frozen-thawed chicken breast fillet from fresh one.

The Torrymeter is an ideal rapid quality control tool for poultry processors to differentiate between fresh and frozen-thawed chicken breast fillets. It allows efficient and reliable testing to maximize quality and profitability.

Research conclusion

The study concluded that the Torrymeter is the most effective and reliable method tested for rapidly differentiating between fresh and previously frozen-thawed chicken breast fillets.

Key benefits of using the Torrymeter:

• Provides objective results in seconds through simple electrical impedance measurement
• Consistently and significantly differentiates fresh from frozen-thawed fillets
• Non-destructive, rapid testing with minimal training required
• Low cost and easy to use compared to other instrumentation
• Allows quality control personnel to efficiently ensure freshness specifications are met
• Prevents quality issues and customer dissatisfaction from sale of thawed meat as fresh
• Improves profitability through quality control and optimization

This research evaluated several current methods for the differentiation between fresh and frozen-thawed breast fillets with the goal of protecting the domestic industry and consumers. Optical microscopy was able to differentiate between fresh and frozen-thawed breast fillets; however, it may be difficult to apply in a market setting due to time and personnel constraints. The pH and K-value did not provide satisfactory results for the differentiation of frozen-thawed breast fillets from fresh ones during storage.

The Torrymeter is an ideal tool for poultry processors to rapidly differentiate between fresh and frozen-thawed chicken breast fillets. It enables efficient quality control testing to maximize product quality and customer satisfaction.