Abstract:

 The present study investigated the effect of high pressure processing (HPP) (0.1, 100, 200, 300 and 400 MPa,
10 ℃, 2 min) on water distribution and microstructure of meat batters and sensory characteristics of sausages using sensory
evaluation, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results revealed
that the scores of sensory properties were significantly increased with increasing pressure from 100 to 200 MPa, but
decreased as the pressure further rose to 400 MPa (P ＜ 0.05). In addition, HPP significantly changed the microstructure of
meat batters. HPP resulted in a larger peak area of fast-relaxation time (T21), but a smaller peak area slow-relaxation time
(T22) with increasing pressure level in meat batters when compared with the control samples. Moreover, the T21 tended to
first increase and then decrease with increasing pressure from 100 to 200 and further to 400 MPa (P ＜ 0.05). Furthermore, a
significant positive correlation was observed between sensory evaluation scores and T2, as well as and T2 peak area (P ＜ 0.05).
In conclusion, the higher level vof immobilized water in the myofibrillar matrix caused by HPP can contributed to modify
the microstructure of meat batters and improve sensory characteristics of cooked sausages.

Key words: high pressure processing, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance, T2 relaxation time, microstructure