Abstract:

Addition of transglutaminase (TG) combined with ultra high pressure (UHP) processing was applied to improve
the quality of ground chicken products. The experimental conditions were optimized for better texture characteristics and
water-holding capacity of heat-induced gels of UHP processed samples from a two-step heating procedure. The results
showed that TG activity, pressure and dwelling time had significant effects on texture properties (hardness and chewiness)
and water-holding capacity of heat-induced ground chicken gels (P ＜ 0.05). Based on the quadratic regression model
established using a Box-Behnken response surface design, the optimal experimental conditions were determined as 1.95 U/g,
450 MPa and 22 min for TG activity, pressure and dwelling time, respectively. Experiments carried out under the optimized
conditions led to a water-holding capacity of (90.1 ± 0.5)%. The interactions of TG activity with pressure and with dwelling
time were significant (P ＜ 0.05), but the interaction between pressure and dwelling time was not significant (P ＞ 0.05).
This study shows that TG combined with ultra high pressure can promote the formation of the excellent quality of ground
chicken gels and has promising applications in ground chicken processing.

Key words: TG, high pressure, ground chicken gel, texture, water-holding capacity (WHC)