Importance of Transglutaminase in Meat Production

1. TG enzyme can enhance the water-holding performance of the product and increase the cooking yield

Water retention is an important quality indicator of meat products. It determines the color, aroma, taste, nutrition, juiciness, tenderness and other edible qualities of meat products, and affects economic value.

Since the spatial network structure formed by the catalysis of TG enzyme can hold a large amount of water, TG enzyme can prevent the shrinkage of water during the processing of meat products and improve the cooking yield of the products.

The main reason is that transglutaminase uses are improving the thermal stability of the gel network structure in meat products, the structure is stable during the heat treatment process, and the yield is improved.

2. TG enzyme can develop healthy and nutritious meat products

Salt and phosphate play an important role in the structure of meat products. They are essential food additives in the processing of meat products. Long-term excessive intake of salt is harmful to the human body. The development of low-salt, healthy and nutritious meat products has become a research hotspot in meat products in recent years.

TG enzyme is a powerful tool for the development of such products. During the production of meat products, TG enzyme can reduce the amount of food additives while maintaining the original meat flavor of the meat.

Studies have shown that the protein formed by TG enzyme can be used as a fat substitute. Gelatin is modified by TG enzyme, which can replace a certain proportion of pig fat to make hamburgers. It was found that compared with products containing 100% pig fat, there is no significant difference in color, flavor, etc., but the fat content, compared with the former, is reduced by 2%, which is a low-fat food.

3. TG enzyme can broaden the source of raw meat

Beef, lamb, and poultry are rich in nutrients, low in fat, and high in protein. In the meat consumption structure, it has now risen to 35%. The research and development of high-quality beef, sheep, poultry and other meat products is an urgent problem to be solved in the meat product market in the future.

However, due to the defects of the raw meat itself, the development of this type of product is limited. For example, using chicken as raw material to produce sausages, the hardness of the products is not high. However, using chicken as raw material and adding TG enzyme, it was found that the hardness and elasticity of sausages were significantly improved.