Effect of ultrasound-assisted immersion thawing on emulsifying and gelling properties of chicken myofibrillar protein

Ultrasound is well known to have a significant effect on the rate of various processes in the food industry. Using ultrasound, full reproducible food processes can now be completed in seconds or minutes with high reproducibility, reducing the processing cost, simplifying manipulation and work-up, giving higher purity of the final product, eliminating post-treatment of waste water and consuming only a fraction of the time and energy normally needed for conventional processes. Several processes such as freezing, cutting, drying, tempering, bleaching, sterilization, and extraction have been applied efficiently in the food industry. The advantages of using ultrasound for food processing, includes: more effective mixing and micro-mixing, faster energy and mass transfer, reduced thermal and concentration gradients, reduced temperature, selective extraction, reduced equipment size, faster response to process extraction control, faster start-up, increased production, and elimination of process steps. Food processes performed under the action of ultrasound are believed to be affected in part by cavitation phenomena and mass transfer enhancement. This review presents a complete picture of current knowledge on application of ultrasound in food technology including processing, preservation and extraction. It provides the necessary theoretical background and some details about ultrasound the technology, the technique, and safety precautions. We will also discuss some of the factors which make the combination of food processing and ultrasound one of the most promising research areas in the field of modern food engineering. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This comprehensive review describes the effects of freezing and thawing on the physical quality parameters of meat. The formation of ice crystals during freezing damages the ultrastructure and concentrates the solutes in the meat which, in turn, leads to alterations in the biochemical reactions that occur at the cellular level and influence the physical quality parameters of the meat. The quality parameters that were evaluated are moisture loss, protein denaturation, lipid and protein oxidation, colour, pH, shear force and microbial spoilage. Additionally mechanisms employed to mitigate the effects of freezing and thawing were also reviewed. These include the use of novel methods of freezing and thawing, ante and post mortem antifreeze protein inclusion and vitamin E supplementation, brine injection and modified atmospheric packaging.