Effects of microwave rendering on the yield and characteristics of chicken fat from broiler abdominal fat tissue.

Microwave rendering process and effects of rendering conditions on yields and characteristics of chicken fat from broiler abdominal fat tissue were studied. Microwave rendering process could be divided into three phases: warming-up, constant temperature and heating-up phases. Increasing microwave power increased the rate of temperature rise and final temperature of chicken fat, shortened the duration of warming-up and constant temperature phase, and decreased the moisture content of chicken fat. Longer irradiation time resulted in higher final temperature, lower moisture content and darker, browner color of chicken fat. The chicken fat rendered at power level of 2.75 W/g for 10 min had the highest yield (70.55%) with the lowest peroxide value, acid value and thiobarbituric acid value (p < 0.05). The major fatty acids in chicken fat obtained at optimum conditions were oleic acid (45.73%), palmitic acid (26.13%), linoleic acid (15.12%), palmitoleic acid (6.07%), and stearic acid (5.81%).