Influence of hydrophobic and hydrophilic filler particles on thermal expansion and cooking loss in meat protein gels

Abstract

SummaryThis study aimed to determine the effect of replacing hydrophobic fat‐based particles with hydrophilic inert glass particles at concentrations 10%, 25% and 40% on expansion, contraction and cooking loss of meat protein gels during heat treatment up to 85 °C. Incorporating glass particles resulted in gel expansion (up to 22.3% ± 2.8% at 40%) independent of the particle concentration during heat treatment in an open system, while an increased fat‐particle content provoked a gel shrinkage (up to −6.5% ± 2.2% at 40%). At high filler concentrations, expansion and shrinkage were inversely correlated with cooking loss: The highest fat and glass particle filler concentration exhibited the lowest cooking loss (20.1% ± 0.5% for glass particles and 21.7% ± 0.2% for fat particles) despite the observed extensive structural changes, which was related to particle hydrophilicity, gel composition and structural rearrangement. These results will be helpful to design particle‐filled composite meat gels with different types of particles.