Effects of Hydrocolloid Injection on the Eating Quality of Pork Analyzed Based on Low-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (LF-NMR)

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of hydrocolloid injection on the eating quality of porcine meat based on low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). The eating quality and water distribution of hydrocolloid-injected pork were compared with control, and the principle component analysis (PCA) was applied for the identification of hydrocolloid-injected pork. Total color difference (ΔE∗), cooking loss, and moisture content of hydrocolloid-injected pork were significantly increased compared with the control (p<0.05). LF-NMR indicated that significant differences in the relaxation time and peak area proportion of immobilized water (T21, P21) and free water (T22, P22) were detected among hydrocolloid-injected samples and the control (p<0.05). The first two principal components (PCs) of PCA accounted for 54.07% and 33.56% of the observed variation, respectively. Based on the two PCs, the hydrocolloid-injected pork could be differentiated from the control. Therefore, LF-NMR combined with PCA offers an effective method for the analysis and detection of hydrocolloid-injected pork.