Our paper is the Number 1 hottest paper in the journal, Food Quality and Preference

Former student of the University of Fort Hare, Nomaphelo Dyubele’s publication in the Food Quality and Preference journal titled; “Consumer characteristics of broiler and sensory chicken meat, A South African Example”, a final year project that she conducted in 2008 as part of her deliverables for her degree in Livestock and Pasture Science, has been named the hottest article in the journal.  The objectives of the study were to compare carcass characteristics, organ weights, pH changes, and to determine the influence of heat treatment on consumer sensory characteristics of broiler and indigenous South African chicken’s meat. The publication is particularly significant for poultry enterprises as it asserts that by understanding consumer preferences and the factors that influence choice, niche markets could be developed from indigenous chickens.

Chicken are the preferred meat choice for most consumers, who are increasingly becoming particular about food consumption, insisting on investigating the efficacy of method used in the production of the foods they consume. These consumers are inadvertently becoming secondary decision-makers in the poultry farming process. This, Dyubele notes has led to an increase in demand for natural or organic meat that has been produced with minimal use of additives and chemicals, and hence the relevance of indigenous chickens, which can be produced without any supplementary feeding. Professor Voster Muchenje, Head of the Department, stated that at the time the project was being conducted, just behind the male residence in the University, the Department did not have the all basic equipment required and had to use a pH meter from the Soil Science unit. However the information retrieved from the experiments was able to withstand expert criticism to provide insightful contributions to the industry, while impacting the quality of the University’s research output. “The ranking is based on how often an article is read and is normally dominated by expert reviews from leading international scientists”, Professor Muchenje said.

The full article can be accessed on the link below:

Consumer sensory characteristics of broiler and indigenous chicken meat: A South African example Food Quality and Preference, Volume 21, Issue 7, October 2010, Pages 815-819 Dyubele, N.L.; Muchenje, V.; Nkukwana, T.T.; Chimonyo, M. Cited by SciVerse Scopus (7)