Quality defects associated with poultry muscle development: pale, soft and exudative meat

Pale, Soft and Exudative (PSE)-like is a condition firstly discovered in 60s’ by the pork processing industry and used to define a meat quality defect resulting from an extremely rapid pH drop while the temperature of the carcass is still high. Later on, albeit the triggering factors might be different, this condition was also observed in turkeys and broilers and named PSE-like. Despite the progress in the understanding of the underpinning factors and in the developing methods to improve the functional properties of PSE-like poultry meat, it still represents a growing concern in light of the remarkable incidence rates. Within this context, this chapter aims to provide the readers an accurate and global insight about PSE-like condition, as well as a technical support by depicting the strategies to reduce its occurrence and the technologies applied to improve its functional characteristics.