Effects of washing treatment and pH adjustment on heat-induced gelling properties of minced chicken with low-salt

In order to improve heat-induced gelling properties of chicken muscle proteins at low salt, a factorial design was taken to study the effects of washing treatment and pH adjustment on myofibrils swelling, texture properties and water holding capacity of heat-induced gels of minced chicken with 0.88% NaCl-addition. The samples with 0.15% or 2.5% NaCl-addition were also investigated. Chicken breast muscle was minced and washed with purified water or 0.15% NaCl, and afterwards the mince was adjusted to pH value 7.2. After all samples were adjusted to 85% moisture content with the addition of distilled deionized water at 4℃, NaCl concentration of the mince was adjusted to 0.15%, 0.88% or 2.5%, respectively. Then the textural properties, water adsorbing and water holding capacity of heat-induced gels were evaluated. The results showed that pH adjustment combined with washing weakened the textural properties of 2.5% NaCl-addition groups, but it improved textural properties of 0.15% and 0.88% NaCl-addition groups. Washing treatment combined with pH adjustment showed more efficiency to improve myofibrils swelling and WHC of low-salt mince. Moreover, a 2×2 factorial analysis indicated significant main and interactive effects of pH adjustment and washing on textural properties of heat-induced gel. In addition, the test criteria statistics for the null hypothesis between washing groups and pH adjusted groups, washing combined with pH adjusted groups and the control were 4.69 and 30.25 (P<0.001). These results suggested that a combination of washing and pH adjustment could improve texture properties and water holding capacity of heat-induced gels at low ionic strength, which is a guideline for the development of the low-salt meat products.