Comparison of meat quality traits among the main chicken categories marketed in Italy: 2. lipid and protein oxidative stability

This study aimed at evaluating the effect of the market category, defined according to the farming system (conventional indoor - C, free-range - F, and organic - O) and carcass weight (light – L,1.8-2.0 kg used for rotisserie products, medium – M, 2.5-2.8 kg used for producing cut-ups, and heavy – H, used for producing cut-ups or processed products), on the oxidative status of breast and thigh meat. A total of 625 breast fillets (N=25/flock) and 500 thighs (N=20/flock) were selected 3 h post-mortem from those belonging to the main chicken categories marketed in Italy (N=5 flocks/market category): L farmed under either conventional systems (LC, FG slaughtered at 32-35 d) or free-range (LF, FG slaughtered at 56d) systems, M farmed under conventional systems (MC, FG slaughtered at 35-42d), H farmed under either conventional systems (HC, FG slaughtered at 45-50d) or organic (HO, FG slaughtered at 81d ). Samples were used to assess colour as well as protein and lipid oxidation by easuring carbonyls and TBARS, respectively. Data were analysed by One- way ANOVA considering the market category as main effect.