Abstract: The main objective of this study was to investigate the heat-induced changes of thermal characteristics of connective tissue collagen from beef Semitendinosus muscle. Muscle samples were heated to an internal core temperature of 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 ℃ in a water bath and in a microwave oven respectively. The changes of filter residues content and thermal characteristics of connective tissue collagen were examined with internal core temperature. The results indicated that filter residues were increased during heating, and presented significant differences (P＜0.05) at the internal core temperatures of 60, 70 ℃ and 80 ℃ between water bath and microwave heated meat samples. Internal core temperatures ranging from 40 to 60 ℃ were critical heating temperatures which affect thermal shrinkage temperatures of connective tissue collagen for both water bath and microwave heated meat samples. The significant differences in thermal shrinkage temperatures between water bath and microwave heated beef muscle samples were attributed to the heat-induced changes in thermal characteristics of connective tissue collagen.

Key words: beef Semitendinosus muscle, collagen, thermal shrinkage temperatures, heat-induced changes, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)