SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANICALLY GROWN CHICKEN UNDER COCONUT-BASED PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Abstract

Meat from selected breeds of chicken (Paraokan genetic group of Philippine native chicken; free-range colored and commercial white breeds) grown organically in a coconut-based production system and commercially raised chicken were subjected to sensory evaluation to assess attributes such as flavor, off-flavor, tenderness, juiciness and general acceptability using a 9-point qualitative scale. All sensory parameters evaluated were not significantly different among treatments. However, commercially raised chicken tended to have better flavor and tenderness scores while the free range chicken breed tended to have better score on off-flavor, juiciness and general acceptability compared to other birds. Generally, there is a tendency for both the native and free range chicken grown organically to have better scores on off-flavor and juiciness characteristics and general acceptability scores compared to the other two treatments.