Fatty-Acid Composition and Sensory Traits of Japanese Local Chickens in the Context of Asian Local Chicken Meat Quality

Asian local chickens are often perceived as more palatable than commercial broilers, with stronger taste and longer aftertaste, but the biochemical basis of this eating quality remains unclear. Using Japanese local chicken meat as the main example and other Asian local chicken studies as context, this hypothesis-generating review develops a hypothesis centered on arachidonic acid. The core hypothesis is that higher arachidonic acid content may partly explain why local chicken meat is perceived as more palatable. Available Japanese data show that local chicken meats generally contain higher arachidonic acid proportions than commercial broiler meat. However, higher arachidonic acid content alone cannot explain why the meat is perceived as more palatable. A previously proposed hypothesis links lipid-derived volatile aldehydes to kokumi through activation of the calcium-sensing receptor. This route is treated cautiously here, because volatile aldehydes may be lost during cooking and have not yet been shown to remain in cooked chicken meat at concentrations that influence eating quality. Instead, this review proposes a second validation route. Arachidonic-acid-rich lipid pools generate 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal and related compounds that are less volatile and more likely to remain in edible fractions than short-chain aldehydes. These compounds are introduced here only as plausible downstream oxidation products that may help connect meat lipid composition with kokumi-related or aftertaste-related perception. This review emphasizes production context, meat-quality traits, and sensory evaluation as the primary basis for interpreting fatty-acid differences, with chemical hypotheses presented only as exploratory routes for future validation.