Improving water retention of chicken breast meats by CaCl₂ combined with pulsed electric fields

Abstract

Frozen poultry meat is the most widely consumed animal-based food. However, water loss often leads to quality loss of poultry meat. Therefore, the present study sought to investigate the combined effect of calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatment on chicken breast meats and the mechanisms underlying protein degradation. The results showed that the synergistic effect was superior to the single treatment. Compared with the untreated group, the combination of CaCl 2 and PEF increased water holding capacity of chicken breast meats by 16.61% and decreased cooking loss by 28.93%. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) results indicated that the synergistic treatment promoted water molecules' binding capacity in myofibrils of poultry meat, which exhibited higher immobilised water. Additionally, the combination of CaCl 2 and PEF led to increased degradation of proteins of highmolecular weight and surface hydrophobicity of myofibrillar protein. Furthermore, the extension of the protein molecule and microenvironmental changes promoted interaction between protein and water. In conclusion, the synergistic treatment of CaCl 2 and PEF enhanced water retention and improved physicochemical properties of the myofibrillar protein in chicken breast meats.Keywords calcium chloride, chicken breast meats, pulsed electric fields, water retention.

Evaluation of ultrasound and pulsed electric field combinations on the cooking Losses, texture Profile, and Taste-Related amino acids of chicken breast meat

“…US + PEF-1 and US + PEF-5 treatments resulted in comparatively increased cooking loss compared to US + PEF-3. This suggests a potential “sweet spot” voltage range for optimal moisture retention during the PEF treatment of chicken breast meat [43] , [44] .…”

“…Previous studies have explored the potential of ultrasound and PEF to improve moisture retention in meat [35] , [42] , [43] . However, research on the optimal experimental conditions for ultrasound and PEF treatment of chicken breast meat, particularly regarding cooking loss, remains limited [30] .…”