Table 1 Significance of main and interaction effects of NaCl concentrations and cooking temperature on color and pigments in cooked ground chicken breasts

Main effects and interaction Dependent variables
Cooking yield pH ORP Nitrite Myoglobin PMD Nitrosyl hemochrome Total pigments CIE Color rNIC
L* a* b*
NaCl concentration1, N ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Cooking temperature2, T ** NS * * NS NS NS NS ** NS ** NS
N×T ** NS NS NS NS NS NS * NS NS NS NS
1 All raw ground meats were salted (0, 1, 2, and 3% NaCl, respectively) and stored for 7 d before being cooked.
2 The samples were cooked to an internal temperature of 70, 75, 80, and 85°C, respectively, in a 90°C water bath.
* p<0.05
** p<0.0001; NS, not significant.
ORP, oxidation reduction potential; Nitrite, residual nitrite contents; Myoglobin, amount of undenatured myoglobin; PMD, percentage myoglobin denaturation; CIE L*, lightness; CIE a*, redness; CIE b*, yellowness; rNIC, reflectance estimator of nicotinamide hemochrome (%R537 nm/%R553 nm).