Chemical composition of chicken of various commercial brands available in market

The chemical composition of the meat from various cuts of poultry obtained from three commercial brands (brand I, II and III) of chicken from different processing plants available in the Saudi Arabian market were studied. Six raw meat samples of whole chicken and mixed portions (Breast fillet with skin, breast fillet without skin, drumsticks with skin, thigh cut skin on bone in and wings with skin in) from each brand were collected on same production date. The collected samples were analyzed for pH, moisture, fat percent and protein content. The results revealed that, in whole chicken the pH values and moisture content differ significantly (P<0.05) among different brands. The fat percent is significantly higher in brand I (22.30±0.91) where as brand II (18.06±0.13) has significantly higher protein content. The pH, moisture, fat percent and protein content of mixed portions differ significantly among different brands. However, the fat percent of whole chicken, breast fillet with skin was higher by 8.56% and 3.62% respectively, in brand I when compare to brand II. The higher values of protein content of breast fillet with skin, breast fillet without skin, drumsticks with skin, thigh cut skin on bone in and wings with skin in were 21.31±0.21, 23.34±0.09, 19.75±0.06, 15.45±0.10 and 18.32±0.15 respectively. The observations made out of the research indicate that the chemical composition of meat from whole chicken and various cuts differ significantly among the three different commercially available brands.