Modifying the Functional Properties of Egg Proteins Using Novel Processing Techniques: A Review

Abstract

Egg proteins can be used in a wide range of food products, owing to their excellent foaming, emulsifying, and gelling properties. Another important functional property is the susceptibility of egg proteins to enzymatic hydrolysis, as protein digestion is closely related to its nutritional value. These functional properties of egg proteins are likely to be changed during food processing. Conventional thermal processing can easily induce protein denaturation and aggregation and consequently reduce the functionality of egg proteins due to the presence of heat‐labile proteins. Accordingly, there is interest from the food industry in seeking novel nonthermal or low‐thermal techniques that sustain protein functionality. To understand how novel processing techniques, including high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields, ionizing radiation, ultraviolet light, pulsed light, ultrasound, ozone, and high pressure homogenization, affect protein functionality, this review introduces the mechanisms involved in protein structure modification and describes the structure–functionality relationships. Novel techniques differ in their mechanisms of protein structure modification and some have been shown to improve protein functionality for particular treatment conditions and product forms. Although there is considerable industrial potential for the use of novel techniques, further studies are required to make them a practical reality, as the processing of egg proteins often involves other influencing factors, such as different pH and the presence of other food additives (for example, salts, sugar, and polysaccharides).

Electric field effects on proteins – Novel perspectives on food and potential health implications

“…corn peptides) have found similar results regarding the effects of PEF on peptides' antioxidant properties (Wang et al, 2015). Besides improvement of the antioxidant properties, PEF have also been described to improve the anti-inflammatory properties of ovomucin-depleted egg white derived peptides (Liu, Oey, Bremer, Carne, & Silcock, 2019). All these results show preliminary evidences of the advantages of using PEF to improve some functionalities and quality of food products.…”

Impact of novel processing techniques on the functional properties of egg products and derivatives: A review

“…Hydrolysates (1 mg/ml) showed reduction (35.5 and 35.9%) in the production of interleukin‐8 (chemokine) after being treated with PEF and heat treatment (80°C for 10 min), respectively. PEF processing of ovomucin depleted EW solution can improve the protein hydrolysates with increased anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant activity along with less solution turbidity which can be used in high clarity products and protein fortified drinks (Liu, Oey, Bremer, Carne, & Silcock, 2019; Liu, Oey, Bremer, Silcock, et al, 2019).…”

“…PEF processing applied (intensity‐dependent manner) to liquid whole egg caused a minor but not significant increase in viscosity. After PEF processing, pre‐homogenized liquid whole egg retained the same viscosity (Liu, Oey, Bremer, Carne, & Silcock, 2019; Liu, Oey, Bremer, Silcock, et al, 2019). The type of product determines the effect of ionizing radiation on the viscosity of egg and egg products being processed.…”

“…Selection of the technologies are based on the current trends in the industry as well as developments in the research arena. The technologies are ultrasound (US; Caner & Yuceer, 2015; Sheng et al, 2018; Stefanović et al, 2017; Yüceer & Caner, 2020a, 2020b; Zhu, Vanga, Wang, & Raghavan, 2018b), high hydrostatic pressure (HHP; Hoppe, Jung, Patnaik, & Zeece, 2013; Ma, Lozano‐Ojalvo, Chen, Lopez‐Fandiño, & Molina, 2015; Naderi, Pouliot, House, & Doyen, 2017; Savadkoohi, Bannikova, Mantri, & Kasapis, 2016; Shahbaz et al, 2018), pulsed electric field (PEF; Baba et al, 2018; Liu, Oey, Bremer, Carne, & Silcock, 2017; Liu, Oey, Bremer, Carne, & Silcock, 2019; Liu et al, 2019; Wu, Zhao, Yang, & Chen, 2014), microwave (MW; Li, Sun, Ma, Jin, & Sheng, 2018; Singh et al, 2018; Zhu, Vanga, Wang, & Raghavan, 2018a), ultraviolet light (UV; Holck, Liland, Drømtorp, Carlehö, & McLeod, 2018; Manzocco, Panozzo, & Nicoli, 2012; Mehdizadeh, Minaei, Torshizi, & Mohajerani, 2014), cold plasma (CP; Dasan, Yildirim, & Boyaci, 2018; Dobeic et al, 2016; Georgescu, Apostol, & Gherendi, 2017; Wan, Chen, Pankaj, & Keener, 2017), and radio frequency (RF; Boreddy, Birla, Froning, Thippareddi, & Subbiah, 2014; Boreddy, Thippareddi, Froning, & Subbiah, 2016; Geveke, Bigley, & Brunkhorst, 2017; Yang et al, 2019). Thus, the efficiency and suitability of available novel technologies, for the processing of egg products and derivatives should be compared and examined.…”

“…The effect of non‐conventional techniques on protein functional properties, and extending its food applications are well documented (Higuera‐Barraza, Del Toro‐Sanchez, Ruiz‐Cruz, & Márquez‐Ríos, 2016; Kavuşan & Serdaroğlu, 2019; Liu, Oey, Bremer, Carne, & Silcock, 2019; Liu, Oey, Bremer, Silcock, et al, 2019; Mirmoghtadaie, Shojaee Aliabadi, & Hosseini, 2016; Zhu et al, 2018a). However, there is a need for a comparative and up‐to‐date systematic review providing crucial information for food industry about the various novel techniques focusing on the modification of structure and functional properties of egg products and derivatives.…”