Likewise, the maximum force was measured to indicate the force required to compress the meat. The maximum force value was approximately 30.42 ± 1.41 N for fresh chicken meat, whereas a significant increase in the force value was observed in the freeze-dried meat (trt-0) 40.05 ± 0.93 N. Similar results were reported by Babić et al. (2009), who observed an increase in maximum force values for freeze-dried chicken meat when compared with those of fresh meat. The high values of maximum force (N) reported for freeze-dried meats are probably explained by the application of slow freezing. Ciurzyńska and Lenart (2011) justified the change of texture and the final morphological characteristics of freeze-dried products by the growth of the ice crystals formed during slow-freezing process.