Woody breast in broilers.

Woody breast have evolved in the rapidly growing broiler chicken because of our drive to produce fast growing birds within a limited time frame and high demand for white meat.broiler chickens bred lately can yield breast fillets that are heavier than an entire bird was bred years ago. The down-side of this massive production is that rising number of those fillets are laced with hard fibers a condition commonly called woody breast. Woody breast poses no threat to human health, but it degrades the texture of the meat,taste and economic value.In woody breast,the fillets are hard,more elastic and difficult to chew.The actual cause is not known but it has been linked to decrease blood flow to muscle. This muscle myyopathy has been linked to necrosis following reduced blood flow to muscle resulting in fibrosis and replacement of protein fibers with collagen fibers. This replacement of protein fibers with collagen fibers is responsible for the toughness and woody appearance of muscle. The digestibility is questionable as its gummy,elastic and requires longer mastication. Woody breast changes the appearance and hence reduce consumer willingness to buy such chicken breast fillets. Producers cull such birds from production line and sell at discounted rates thus reducing profit margin. Producers are trying to curb the woody breast menace by changing production techniques by reducing fattening of the birds. The industry is poised to change tactics because fattened chickens dont meet many customers taste as many are not willing to pay large amounts for chicken breasts,they rather go for wings. Restaurants,food vendors are also scaling done demand thus prompting a paradigm shift. The role of phytase and trace minerals in the curbing of woody breast has been explored see