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Improving transport container design to reduce broiler chicken PSE (pale, soft, exudative) meat in Brazil
Author(s) -
Spurio Rafael S.,
Soares Adriana L.,
Carvalho Rafael H.,
Silveira Junior Vivaldo,
Grespan Moisés,
Oba Alexandre,
Shimokomaki Massami
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/asj.12407
Subject(s) - broiler , container (type theory) , food science , chemistry , engineering , mechanical engineering
Throughout the chicken production chain, transport from farm to the commercial abattoir is one of the most critical sources of stress, particularly heat stress. The aim of this work was to describe the performance of a new prototype truck container designed to improve the microenvironment and reduce the incidence of pale, soft and exudative (PSE) meat and dead on arrival (DOA) occurrences. Experiments were carried out for four different conditions: regular and prototype truck, both with and without wetting loaded cages at the farm (for bird thermal stress relief) just before transporting. While there was no difference in the DOA index ( P ≥ 0.05), the prototype truck caused a reduction ( P < 0.05) in the occurrence of PSE meat by 66.3% and 49.6% with and without wetting, respectively. The results of this experiment clearly revealed a low‐cost solution for transporting chickens that yields better animal welfare conditions and improves meat quality.