Underlying mechanisms and molecular interactions of isochoric freezing on enhancing the freshness of chicken breast meat
Tsekwi Gracious Rinwi, Da‐Wen Sun, Ji Ma, Qijun Wang
Abstract
This study investigated the underlying mechanisms involved in moisture migration under three different isochoric treatment conditions, namely, direct immersion freezing (DIF), vacuum pack freezing (VPF), vacuum immersion pack freezing (VIPF), and their molecular interactions on the overall freshness of chicken breast meat using a 2.5 g/dL sodium chloride solution at −4 °C. Occurring mass transfer processes of moisture, including diffusion and infusion, led to changes in water distribution and mobility, which significantly (P < 0.05) affected various characteristics, such as colour, water holding capacity, pH, cooking loss, total volatile basic nitrogen, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, solubility, and microstructural integrity of the DIF samples. Meanwhile, VIPF samples were slightly affected except for pH and WHC, while VPF samples did not significantly differ from fresh samples (P > 0.05). The study suggested that the isochoric protocol could be varied depending on the sample nature and desired outcomes, and could provide some theoretical and experimental basis for designing isochoric freezing protocols.