Sodium chloride levels in comminuted chicken muscle in relation to processing characteristics and Fresnel reflectance detected with a polarimetric probe.

Increasing NaCl from 0 to 2% in comminuted samples of chicken breast meat increased the resistance to compression of cooked samples (r=0.98, p<0.001), increased water-holding capacity (r=0.95, p<0.001), decreased cooking losses (r=-0.97, p<0.001) and decreased paleness (L(*)) before and after cooking (r = -0.96 and r=-0.99, respectively, p<0.001). The decrease in paleness caused by NaCl was associated with an increase in the relative amount of reflected light maintaining its original plane of polarisation, so that NaCl% was correlated with an extinction coefficient for polarised light, r=0.91, p<0.001. A possible explanation is that myofibrillar proteins may have been dissolved at high levels of NaCl, thus reducing light scattering by myofibrils and allowing more Fresnel reflectance to be detected.