Formation mechanism of texture characteristics of pork belly during stewing: focusing on the effects of myofibrillar protein modification

Summary The effects of stewing at a constant temperature (95 °C) for different times (45 and 90 min) on the physicochemical characteristics of lean meat (LM) and lean meat in pork belly (LMIPB) were investigated. When the stewing time was 90 min, the hardness, springiness, cohesiveness and chewiness of LMIPB were 186.35 g, 0.07 (ratio), 0.18 (ratio) and 241.90 g lower than those of LM, respectively. The chemical changes in myofibrillar protein (MP) mainly including the degree of oxidation degradation, such as carbonyl content, cross‐linked polymer and β‐sheet, were increased with prolonged stewing time. The sulfhydryl content, Zeta potential (absolute value) and α‐helix were decreased markedly. The chemical changes of MP in the LMIPB were greater than those in the LM during the stewing process. These results indicated that fat in stewing process could promote the oxidation degradation of MP in meat, and then affected the texture characteristics of meat.