Microbial contaminations of animal feed can lead to impaired food safety and human foodborne diseases.
Risks can be mitigated by conventional feed hygienization practices including thermal processing and supplementations
with organic acids. The aim of this study was to examine whether these hygienization techniques,
alone or in combination, affect meat composition and meat quality-related parameters in broilers.
Water, protein and fat contents of broiler breasts were determined using destructive analyses. Additionally,
meat color and pH analyses, as well as fluorescence and reflectance analyses in the UV/VIS/NIR range, were conducted
using rapid non-invasive methods. Although minor differences were observed regarding fat content,
color and pH between the treatment groups, these were ascribed to natural product variations, and no substantial
correlation could be established between the diets fed and the parameters examined. It was concluded that
the implemented hygienization treatments did not negatively affect broiler meat composition and qualityrelated
parameters.
Industrial relevance: Product–process interactions with respect to food quality along the entire production chain
are of high importance. Often data on the impact of feed and feed preparation techniques on the resulting
product quality of meat are missing.
The manuscript provides a new and comprehensive study on the effects of thermally treated broiler
feed supplemented with organic acids on selected meat parameters. This is the first study using optical
together with conventional chemical methods for an analysis of meat changes occurring after feed
supplementation.