Study Of High Pressure Brining On The Chicken Breast

Brining is one of the oldest meat processing methods which not only with the function of control microbial populations but also contribute towards the development of flavors. However, traditional salting techniques required long time with slow curing speeds. What’s more the high intake of sodium in the diet is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. To produce products with lower salt contents has an important significance for improving efficiency and the benefit for the food industry. However, reducing salt content has raised the risk from the perspective of food safety and preservation. This has led researchers to look for, or to develop faster and safer curing processes. The technology of high pressure processing has been effectively implemented in the food processing sector to control microbial populations in various food products. This process has a distinct advantage that effective pasteurization can be achieved without the need of heat, and therefore product changes are minimized, and it is widely accepted as a safe and consumer-friendly food processing method which makes the high pressure curing technology become a research focus. In this experiment, the chicken breast was used as research sample to study the mass transfer dynamics during high pressure brining of chicken breast and the effect of high pressure brining on the eating quality and ultra structure of chicken breast and provided a theory basis for the practical application of high pressure brining. The contents and results were detailed as follows:1. Chicken breast was sliced into parallelepiped portions5cm×5cm×2cm of which weight is about45g. The samples were immersed in40g/L sodium chloride solution brine salted at a ratio1:3(meat:brine) and then processed for1,3,5,10,15and20min under each of five pressures (50,100,150,200,250,300Mpa respectively). To obtain the mass transfer of chicken breasts during curing under different pressures-time conditions, sample weights, salt content and moisture were recorded after removal of chicken breast from brine solution at different sampling times (1,2,3,5,10,15and20min). The results indicated that the total weight and water uptake of the chicken breast increased with increasing pressure up to150Mpa, and then decreased with further pressure increase up to300Mpa. Application of50-300Mpa pressure on chicken breast’s brining can effectively improve the rate of diffusion of salt in the chicken breast. Chicken breast samples brined at150Mpa, with a sodium chloride effective diffusivity value of2.96×10-8m2/s. However, long time high pressures bring led to the expulsion of water during brining. Therefore, here arises the need to properly control the curing time for optimal processing yield.2. By coMparing the difference on eating quality of chicken meat brined under different pressure, studying the effect of high pressure brining on the edible quality of chicken breast. The results showed that high pressure brining can increase the value of L*, decrease a*, and increase b*of chicken breast, the pressure not more than150Mpa had less effect on color of the chicken breast; The pressure of50Mpa significantly reduced the pH, but other pressures had no significant effect on the pH of the chicken breast; High-pressure brining can’t improve chicken breast’s tenderness, but can improve its water holding capacity.3. NMR, optical microscope and TEM were used to study the influence of high pressure brining on chicken breast. The results show that there are remarkable effects on the state of water existed in chicken breast. At300Mpa T22move towards to slow relaxation direction, there are more immobile water than free water at150Mpa. At the pressure not more than150Mpa has some difference but not obvious on the muscle cell shape. Chicken breast muscle fiber arranged loosely at200Mpa, muscle fibers perimysium began burst. When brining at300Mpa the perimysium of chicken breast muscle become disintegrated, almost disappeared. In general, pressure treatment at150Mpa was found to be the most suitable level for curing based on its effective diffusivity, high speed on brining and better muscle structure. When brined at0.1Mpa and50Mpa, chicken breast with clear M line, Z line, H band, I band and A band were all clearly visible. At100Mpa,150MP H band has become blurred, but were still clearly visible. H band has completely disappeared and I band also become shorten at200Mpa. Chicken myofibrillar structure brined under300Mpa had a significant change, Z line and I band was completely destroyed, forming a reunion body near Z line and M line, muscle fibers also occurred ablation.