Effect of Egg White Hydrolysates on the Shrinkage, Cooking Loss and Texture of Pork Meat Slices

The potential of using hydrolyzed egg white (hEW) as a food additive to decrease shrinkage, cooking loss of pork meat slices was investigated. Functional characteristics including solubility, Water-Holding Capacity (WHC) and Oil-Binding Capacity (OBC) of three hEWs by using different kinds of enzymes, a commercial small size peptide S and native egg white (NEw) were evaluated. Pork meat slices (8 cm×6 cm) with thickness of 4 mm were soaked in the same weight of solution contained hEW, small peptide S or NEw at a protein concentration of 10% (w/v) at 4°C for 24 h respectively. Results showed that, cooking loss (%) and shrinkage rate (%) decreased when raw meat was immersed in the solution which contained hEWs or NEw. Meat treated by hEW obtained by using enzyme-Thermoase PC10F® showed an excellent WHC and resulted in the least shrinkage rate (3.2%) compared with the meat soaked in the same portion of water (shrinkage rate of 22.7%). Moreover, by using a scanning electron microscopy, relative larger holes and a grainy appearance of endomysium sheaths were also observed in the meat treated by this hEW. Treated by hEWs and NEw contributed to the decrease of elasticity and toughness of cooked meat. Thus, treated by hEWs may permit reduction in cooking loss as and shrinkage rate of pork meat slices.