Abstract:In this paper，to explore the effect of porphyrin compounds on meat quality and related mechanisms，protoporphyrin and ferroporphyrin were used to treat chicken breast and measured the changes in quality indexes of chicken breast，such as cooking loss，meat color，tenderness，fat oxidation，and microstructure，with the treatment of free iron as control.The results showed that the meat color and tenderness of chicken breast treated with porphyrin compounds were significantly changed. After treatment with porphyrin compounds，the brightness value of meat decreased and the redness value of meat increased，and the shear force，hardness，and chewiness of meat were significantly decreased（P＜0.05）.The malondialdehyde content of chicken breast treated with ferroporphyrin and free iron was significantly increased（P＜0.05），and that of chicken breast treated with protoporphyrin was almost unchanged. The results of hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that the myofibrillar structure of chicken breast treated with free iron was severely damaged，while that of chicken breast treated with protoporphyrin and ferroporphyrin was intact and did not change significantly as compared with the blank group.