Birds were given ad libitum access to a standard diet throughout the rearing period and were individually weighed every two weeks (i.e. at 2, 4 and 6 weeks). At 6 weeks of age and after 7 hours feed withdrawal,all the birds were slaughtered at the experimental processing plant of the INRA Experimental Poultry Unit.Before sacrificing by ventral neck cutting, birds were electrically stunned (125 Hz AC, 80 mA/bird, 5 s) in a water bath, bled for 3 min, and scalded at 51°C for 3 min. After
removal of the gut, whole carcasses were air chilled (airflow of 7 m3) and stored at 2°C until the next day.