Studies Of Semi-soft Chicken Breast With Low Water Activity

Semi-soft chicken breast is one of the main export pet-foods of most domestic pet food companies.However,the qualities of such products available on the market are not as good as expected,and due to the traditional processing technology,browing and hard drying may occur during the storage,which will affect sensory quality and shorten the shelf-life of the product and further affect the product exportation.To improve the quality and extend the shelf-life of the semi-soft chicken breast,the effects of quality improver,knead-salting technique,hot-air drying process,and packaging method on product quality,safety and storage stability of the semi-soft chicken breast was studied in the present study.The main results were as follows:1.An orthogonal experiment was designed to study the effect of four quality improvers with water retention property on Aw,water content,production rate and sensory quality of the product.The result showed that the optimum formula was:cassava starch 1.5%,humectant A 8%,soy protein isolate 1.5%and humectant B 1%,and under this condition,the water content,Aw of the products were 21.66%and 0.474,respectively,and also,the product showed ideal production rate and sensory quality.Further accelerated oxidation tests showed that the addition of antioxidant agent BHA(0.02%of fat weight)could effectively restrain the lipid oxidation and color fading of the semi-soft chicken breast during storage.2.The effects of different vacuum rolling and rubbing time and different hot-air drying condition on the quality of chicken breast were investigated.The results showed that to get best tenderness,tissue state and sensory quality for the chicken breast,the optimum knead-salting time was 60 min,when the weight loss rate was lower than 1.15%.Drying temperature and time both showed effects on Aw,lipid oxidation,protein solubility,sensory quality,color,texture of the semi-soft chicken breast.Higher hot-air drying temperature and longer hot-air drying time was helpful for dehydration of the chicken breast,but led to more protein denaturation and more lipid oxidation,and also worsen the color and texture of chicken breast.According to comprehensive comparisons,the most optimum drying parameter was:55?(17h)?75?(1h).3.Changes of the quality of semi-soft chicken breast during storage at different temperature were studied.The results showed that the lower storage temperature was,the better quality of the semi-chicken breast was.Low temperature could efficiently retain the water content,inhibit the lipid oxidation,relieve the changes of color and smell of chicken breast,and thus extend the preservation time of the product.Meanwhile,comparative experiment showed that the product produced with the optimized process had longer shelf-life than the original product of the enterprise.4.The effects of different packing methods on the storage stability of the semi-soft chicken breast were studied.The results showed that,compared to air packaging,vacuum packaging and packaging with oxygen inhalation agent could inhibit the growth of microbes,maintain lower TVB-N content and MDA content,and relieve the change of color and smell,and also the packaging with oxygen inhalation agent showd the best effects.