Similar to omega-3 eggs, chicken meat has great potential to become a functional food for humans. In India, chicken meat is preferred due to its perceived health benefits and affordability. The balance between omega 3 and 6 fatty acids is crucial for its usefulness in animals. At present commercial chicken meat has low omega-3 fatty acid content and higher omega-6 fatty acid content. Published research shows that it is possible to modify the lipid profile of commercial chickens by manipulating the broiler diet. The modern human diet is deficient in n-3 FAs, which has been linked to the increase in several degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer and mental illness. Therefore omega-3 chicken meat may be an effective means of increasing n-3 FA in the human diet. There are several problems associated with the commercial production of omega-3 chicken meat related to the choice of source of fatty acids in the feed, cost of production, consumer acceptability and stability of the chicken meat that need to be tackled. The present article briefly reviews the studies carried out in this respect, the possible impact of omega-3 chicken meat production on the poultry industry, and on human health.

Flavour, one of the most important factors affecting consumers’ meat-buying behaviour and preferences, comprises mainly of taste and aroma. The cooked meat flavour, that is important from the producer and consumer point of view, is affected by several pre- and post-slaughter factors, including breed, diet, post-mortem ageing, and method of cooking. Moreover, chicken meat is prone to the development of off-flavours through lipid oxidation, which reduce the quality of the chicken meat. The aim of this review is to discuss the main factors affecting cooked chicken meat flavour which helps producers and consumers to produce the most flavoured and consistent product possible. Cooked chicken meat flavour is thermally derived via the Maillard reaction, the degradation of lipids, and interaction between these two reactions. Factors affecting the flavour of cooked chicken meat were identified as breed/strain of the chicken, diet of the bird, presence of free amino acids and nucleotides, irradiation, high pressure treatment, cooking, antioxidants, pH, and ageing.

The article details the results of a quantitative survey which was carried out by personal interview of 3200 fresh chicken meat consumers ranging between 15 and 65 years of age and residing in the selected countries of Central and South-eastern Europe. A positive perception of fresh chicken meat was determined in all the countries sampled, with consumers reporting it as a tasty and healthy meat source. Special attention was devoted to the importance of meat origin in the purchase-decision-making process. The importance of fresh chicken meat origin in the purchase-decision-making process were evident in all analysed countries of Central and South-eastern Europe.

The economic and social changes occurring in the former socialist and communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe point to the need for more intensive consumer-based market research. In the international research and business use the country-of-origin (COO) labelling has become one of the factors that distinguish products. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of COO information on brand perception and the consumer evaluation of other chicken meat properties. The present article concentrates on the results of the primary quantitative research, which was carried out using a method of individual personal interviews. A sample was consisted of was 500 Slovenian poultry meat consumers aged between 18 and 65 years. Special attention was paid to the COO of chicken meat. In the research the Slovenian consumers evaluated internal and external properties of chicken meat originating from various countries. The survey showed that COO affected the brand perception and evaluation of other properties of chicken meat. A positive assessment of Slovenian chicken meat and the impact of chicken meat origin in the process of its evaluation were evident from the survey. The present study is one of the first to empirically examine and confirm the impact of COO information on brand perception and the consumer evaluation of other meat properties. This research aims to develop a better understanding of the effect of COO on brand evaluation and other product properties evaluation.

With the wide acceptance of the long-chain (LC) n-3 PUFA EPA and DHA as important nutrients playing a role in the amelioration of certain diseases, efforts to understand factors affecting intakes of these fatty acids along with potential strategies to increase them are vital. Widespread aversion to oil-rich fish, the richest natural source of EPA and DHA, highlights both the highly suboptimal current intakes in males and females across all age-groups and the critical need for an alternative supply of EPA and DHA. Poultry meat is a popular and versatile food eaten in large quantities relative to other meats and is open to increased LC n-3 PUFA content through manipulation of the chicken's diet to modify fatty acid deposition and therefore lipid composition of the edible tissues. It is therefore seen as a favourable prototype food for increasing human dietary supply of LC n-3 PUFA. Enrichment of chicken breast and leg tissue is well established using fish oil or fishmeal, but concerns about sustainability have led to recent consideration of algal biomass as an alternative source of LC n-3 PUFA. Further advances have also been made in the quality of the resulting meat, including achieving acceptable flavour and storage properties as well as understanding the impact of cooking on the retention of fatty acids. Based on these considerations it may be concluded that EPA- and DHA-enriched poultry meat has a very positive potential future in the food chain.

Eleven fasted adult men consumed a chicken meat sandwich made with white or wholemeal bread, extrinsically labelled with 2 mg 67Zn, on two different occasions. Immediately after eating the sandwich they were given an intravenous injection of 1·5 mg 70Zn. True Zn absorption (which was approximately 7% higher than apparent absorption) was determined by the faecal balance technique by making an allowance for endogenous excretion from measurements of faecal excretion of 70Zn. There was no significant difference in mean true Zn absorption from the white or wholemeal bread sandwich, 33·6 and 25·4% respectively. It was concluded that the substitution of wholemeal for white bread does not reduce Zn absorption from meat-based sandwiches.