Investigation of the histological and textural properties of chicken breast thawed by high voltage electric field

Abstract

Our aim was to study the possible changes in texture and microstructure of chicken breast during high voltage electric field (HVEF) thawing. The HVEF was applied at 1.5, 2.25, and 3 kV/cm electrical field strengths for thawing of chicken breast cubes (2 × 2 × 2 cm3), in a designed multiple needle‐plate electrode system. The hardness was increased first at a higher voltage (from 1.5 to 2.25 kV/cm), then decreased at 3 kV/cm; the lowest hardness and highest springiness were observed in control sample with the maximum thawing time, that can be associated with protein denaturation results. The samples thawed under 1.5 kV/cm showed a lower texture destruction; in the histological sections of the thawed sample under 2.25 kV/cm, the fibrils remained relatively intact without any gaps; however, the largest deformation and loss of collagen fibrillation network was related to the control and the samples thawed under 3 kV/cm, possibly due to the great degree of protein denaturation. Color parameters showed that the L* and b* values increased by raising the voltage, and a* value dropped significantly, at higher voltages. Applying a desirable voltage and electrode distance for creating electric field can decrease the structural damages resulting from protein denaturation during the conventional thawing. Practical Applications Tenderness, toughness and color of meat are among the most important factors in terms of consumer acceptance. It seems the HVEF process modifies the texture of muscles by influencing the denaturation of myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins, which is characterized by texture analysis test. On the other hand, the visualization of muscle fiber destruction is possible by using histological investigations. In this research, the effect of HVEF thawing on both the texture and microstructure of chicken has not been focused. The main purpose of this paper was to study the possible changes made in the texture and microstructure of chicken breast during HVEF thawing, and comparison with changes resulted from conventional thawing.

Biomedical Applications of Electromagnetic Detection: A Brief Review

“…However, the largest deformation and loss of collagen fibrillation network appear under 3 kv/cm. The full results are shown in Figure 5 under different intensities voltages [56]. demonstrated that a slight increase in the hardness value could be seen with an increased voltage or decreased freezing temperature.…”

“…However, the largest deformation and loss of collagen fibrillation network appear under 3 kV/cm. The full results are shown in Figure 5 under different intensities voltages [56]. As shown in Table 2, the high-voltage electrostatic field has a significant effect on thawing meat products according to the related indicators.…”

The Physical, Sensory, and Microbial Qualities of Broth Gels Enclosing Food Cubes and Their Changes during Cold Storage

“…The actions of enzymes and microbes in protein foods are closely related to the decomposition of protein structures and food quality. The denaturation of proteins enhances the disintegration of the myofibril structure and strongly disrupts the elasticity and firmness of protein foods [52]. None of the inner foods showed a significant decrease in their hardness values, which indicates that the actions of enzymes and microbes were suppressed.…”

Electrohydrodynamic Drying in Agribusiness: Literature Review

“…It is a promising method to convection dry high-value agricultural products without using heat (Sabarez, 2021). It has been used to dry food products, such as chicken breast (Rahbari et al, 2020), apple (Martynenko and Zheng, 2016), mushroom (Somayeh, 2015). In Figure 8, we observe the relationship of the most important phrases with the countries that have researched EHD drying, it is worth noting that Canada is the country where the phrase Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) is mostly found in its publications, followed by China and France.…”