A novel complex of pectin-crosslinked β-cyclodextrin: Effectively reducing cholesterol content in hotpot beef tallow

The high cholesterol content of beef tallow is one of the potential risks affecting the nutritional value and safety of beef tallow hotpot. In this study, a novel pectin-crosslinked β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) complex was successfully prepared by the cross-linking method to reduce the cholesterol content in beef tallow. When 3% (by mass of beef tallow) of the pectin-crosslinked β-CD complex was added, the removal rate of cholesterol in beef tallow reached 73.43%, which was significantly higher than that of the currently known materials, including β-CD. Moreover, the indexes such as fatty acid composition, chromaticity, and aroma components of beef tallow before and after cholesterol removal were measured. The results showed that the fatty acid composition and chromaticity value of beef tallow treated with the pectin-crosslinked β-CD complex did not change significantly, but the contents of aromatic components, aldehydes, ketones, and alcohol flavor compounds in beef tallow increased significantly. Through characterization experiments, it was confirmed that compared with β-CD, the pectin-crosslinked β-CD complex required a higher temperature to reach the maximum thermal decomposition rate, indicating that its structure had higher thermal stability and could effectively remove cholesterol under high-temperature conditions. In addition, after the nematode toxicity experiment, there was still a survival rate of 97.97%, indicating that the pectin-crosslinked β-CD complex could effectively reduce the cholesterol content in beef tallow without toxicity. These results suggest that the pectin-crosslinked β-CD complex has great potential as an adsorbent for removing cholesterol from animal fats and oils in the food industry.