Comparison between the Quality Traits of Phosphate and Bicarbonate-Marinated Chicken Breast Fillets Cooked under Different Heat Treatments

Because the use of phosphates has being recently diminished in meat industry due to the nutritional drawbacks of phosphates, some researchers started to evaluate sodium bicarbonate as phosphate replacer in meat products. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different temperature combinations of dry air-cooking treatments (Air and Core temperatures: 160 76, 160 80, 200 76 and 200 ̊C 80 ̊C, respectively) on chemical composition, texture properties, water activity, freezable water and bound water, color, pH, and water binding capacity of phosphate and bicarbonate-marinated chicken breast. A batch of 24 h post-mortem broiler breast meat of 80 fillets was divided into two groups of marination treatments (0.3% sodium bicarbonate n = 40, 0.3% sodium tripolyphosphate n = 40) and was vacuum tumbled (45 min, −0.95 mbar, 20 rpm). Different temperature-combinations cooking treatments significantly modified the chemical composition. Bicarbonate marinated fillets showed higher ability to retain water (67.3% vs. 65.7%, P < 0.05) during severe heat treatment and lower cook losses (30.7% vs. 33.4%, P < 0.05) when compared with phosphate-marinated fillets. The effect of changing the cooking temperatures on Texture Profile Analysis (hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, springiness, and chewiness) was more tangible in phosphate marinated fillets than bicarbonate. Bicarbonate-marinated fillets showed significant differences in the percentage of bound water, latent heat, and water activity after cooking in comparison to phosphate-marinated fillets. The results of this study revealed that phosphate-marinated fillets interacted with heat treatments in different patterns in comparison with bicarbonate-marinated fillets.