Model heat-induced gels were prepared. Compared with the broiler myofibrillar protein (BMP), interactions between porcine plasma protein (PPP) and spent-hen myofibrillar protein (SHMP) were evaluated using rheology, textural analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The gel hardness of SHMP was higher than that of BMP. PPP had the highest stickiness and immobilized water fraction of all the gels. The plasma and broiler myofibrillar mixed proteins had a storage modulus similar to that of BMP. After mixing SHMP or BMP with PPP, immobilized water fraction was increased by 5.59% or 50.57%, respectively, and the water-holding capacity (WHC) of the latter significantly increased. Addition of PPP transformed SHMP heat-induced gel to a uniform interconnected network. Introducing PPP can improve the WHC and microstructure of SHMP and BMP gels.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSSpent-hen meat is an underutilized raw material which could be used for mince or imitation products. However, there lies diversity on heat-induced gel properties among different researches. As incorporation of spent-hen breast surimi into analog food can bring worse quality, such as increases of cooking losses and decreases of water-holding capacity, it is the valuable trying to improve quality through protein interaction. This research could be useful to the modification of mince or imitation products with spent-hen meat, and to the manipulation of texture and water-holding capacity of meat products with plasma protein.The texture of comminuted meat products depends largely on the three-dimensional structure of the gel matrix, the amounts and types of particulates and solutes entrapped by the gel matrix, and the water immobilized in the myofibrillar protein gel system (Lanier 1991;Chin et al. 2009;Chen and Han 2011). Gel matrix formation of myofibrillar proteins from different animal sources of muscle may differ because of the fiber-type-dependent isoforms of myosin or their sensitivity to heating. Nowsad et al. (2000a) found that gel strength and breaking strength are higher in spent-hen bs_bs_banner A journal to advance the fundamental understanding of food texture and sensory perception
Journal of Texture Studies