Authentication of chilled and frozen chicken meat on the basis of mitochondrial enzymes

Swami, S., Biswas, A.K., Jangir, A., Rahman, F., Bora, B., Chand, S., Talukder, S., Kumar, D., Ahmad, T. and Rokade, J.J. 2024. Authentication of chilled and frozen chicken meat on the basis of mitochondrial enzymes. Indian Journal of Poultry Science, 59(1): 75–79.

Global demand of quality meat and meat products is increasing day by day as fraudulent practices of meat are prevalent in meat market. Thus, correct labeling of meat as chilled/fresh and frozen-thawed is essential as consumer prefer chilled meat over previously frozen thawed meat due to its higher eating quality. Hence, authentication of chilled and frozen meat is necessary, and for this, enzyme based detection technique can be a great option as it is rapid, user friendly and cost effective. In this study, six samples of chicken meat were sets viz., (i) chilled meat (4±1°C) (ii)meat kept for short term freezing at -20±2°C for 7 days, (iii) meat frozen at -20±2 °C without passing the rigor mortis, (iv) meat underwent single frozen thaw cycles (RFT1), (v) two times frozen thaw cycles (RFT2) and (vi) three times frozen thaw cycles (RFT3). Activity of four mitochondrial enzymes viz., β-hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase (HADH), citrate synthase (CS), aconitase (ACO2), aspartate amino transferase (AST) were assessed in meat express juice (MEJ) prepared from chilled and different treatments of frozen thawed meat. Results indicated higher (P<0.05) enzymatic activity in MEJ prepared from defrosted chicken meat than chilled meat and varied significantly (P<0.05) with each successive freeze thaw cycles. CS and aconitase has shown significantly (P<0.05) higher activities in MEJ prepared from frozen thawed chicken meat than other two mitochondrial enzymes. Thus, citrate synthase and ACO2 shown to have greater potential can be used in differentiation of chilled and frozen meat.