Effect of NaCl on the structure and digestive properties of heat-treated myofibrillar proteins

During meat processing, the quality of food and structure of meat proteins are affected by different processing technologies and addition of raw and auxiliary materials. Different meat products are treated with varying processing temperatures and NaCl content, changing the protein molecular structure. This study aimed to determine impact of heating temperature (40-115 °C) and NaCl concentration (0-0.8 M) on the oxidation, structure, and digestibility of beef myofibrillar proteins. The results revealed that high temperatures and NaCl concentration of 0.4-0.8 M caused the salting-out effect, leading to a decrease in solubility. The oxidative denaturation of proteins leads to increased protein aggregation. Consequently, structural changes of myofibrillar proteins, and the digestive enzymes are unable to recognize specific sites, which reduces the digestibility of the proteins. The findings of this study revealed that heating beef myofibrillar proteins at 85 °C and 0.4 M NaCl substantially improved its digestibility to 85.66 %.