Poultry quality must be managed as a continuous biological process

Chicken-meat quality cannot be managed reliably by treating farm, transport, slaughter and chilling as separate operations. A review published on 25 September brings these links together in a mechanistic framework: pre-slaughter conditions influence muscle metabolism, which in turn determines post-mortem conversion. That sequence affects pH decline, water-holding capacity, colour, tenderness, lipid oxidation and the risk of defects such as PSE-like meat, wooden breast and white striping.

The paper identifies several particularly relevant connecting points: energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, oxidative balance, calcium homeostasis and proteolytic systems. These are not isolated parameters. Temperature, stocking density, genetics, feeding, stress and pre-slaughter handling can converge in these processes and change how muscle responds after death. A late correction in the plant therefore cannot always compensate for an earlier deviation.

In practice, this moves the discussion from individual measures to process profiles. A quality specification for breast or thigh meat should connect production and welfare indicators with slaughter, chilling and product-assessment variables. It also requires clarity about which defect, sensory attribute or commercial application is to be avoided or secured.