Effect of Gluten Treated with Cold Plasma on Quality Properties of Heat-induced Gel of Chicken

Gluten was treated by cold plasma with different powers (350~950 W), and then were added to chicken batter, which was used as raw material. The cooking loss, water holding capacity, texture, dynamic rheology, chemical forces, microstructure, water distribution and migration of chicken gel containing cold plasma treatment gluten were analyzed. Results showed that, the addition of cold plasma treated gluten could raise the water holding capacity and reduce cooking loss of the gel. When gluten treated by cold plasma with power of 650 W was added, the water holding capacity of gel reached to the highest (the value was 96.47%) and the cooking loss was the lowest (the value was only 5.43%), either of them was significantly different compared to other groups (P<0.05). With addition of cold plasma treated gluten, the proportion of immobilized water in gel rose significantly while that of free water decreased, and the transverse relaxation time of both T₂₁ and T₂₂ moved in the direction of short relaxation time. And both T₂₁ and T₂₂ reached to the shortest when cold plasma treatment power was 650 W. With the increase of cold plasma treatment power, G' first increased and then decreased, and reached the highest value at 650 W. Additionally, both the hardness and chewiness rose continuously, while both the springiness and resilience increased first and then decreased, and reached the maximum at treatment power level of 650 W, their value was 0.954, and 0.367, respectively. Addition of cold plasma treated gluten could enhance both hydrophobic interaction and disulfide bonds. Addition of cold plasma treated gluten could strengthen gel formation ability and improve the quality of chicken gel. When the cold plasma treatment power was 650 W, the chicken gel was obtained with dense and uniform spatial network structure, and best quality.