Dietary supplementation versus direct post mortem addition of α-tocopherol on lipid and colour stability in cooked turkey breast patties

The effects of dietary supplementation with all-rac-α-tocopheryl acetate and postmortem addition of α-tocopherol on lipid and colour stability in cooked turkey breast patties were examined. Day old female turkey pours (n = 14) were randomly divided into two groups (n = 7) and fed diets containing 20 (E20) and 600 (E600) mg all-rac-α-tocopheryl acetate/kg feed for 21 w prior to slaughter. Three batches of turkey breast patties (30 g) were formed: E20, E20 plus 600 mg α-tocopherol dissolved in 1% light white mineral oil (ES) and E600. The patties were cooked, over-wrapped in oxygen permeable polyvinyl-chloride film and displayed in a refrigerated (4°C) cabinet under fluorescent light for 9 d. 2-Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) values and Hunter 'a' values were determined during the display period. Following 3 d of refrigerated (4°C) display, E600 patties were significantly (p ≤ 0.01) more stable to lipid oxidation than ES patties. This is despite the fact that the ES patties contained 95-fold more α-tocopherol than the E600 patties. However, the α-tocopherol added post mortem significantly (p ≤ 0.05) protected patties against lipid oxidation compared to the control. No significant differences were determined between Hunter 'a' values for the three treatment batches at any time during refrigerated (4°C) display. However, trends clearly demonstrated E600 patties had higher Hunter 'a' values than E20 or ES patties at all times during display.