Specific application of transglutaminase in meat products

Transglutaminase is an acyltransferase. It can catalyze the acyl transfer reaction between or within proteins, resulting in covalent cross-linking between proteins (or polypeptides) to significantly improve the structure and functionality of proteins (gelling ability, thermal stability and water holding capacity, etc.) and Improve the textural characteristics of the product and recombine the bonding effect.

Transglutaminase is a biological enzyme preparation that widely exists in humans and other animals, plants and microorganisms. The industrialized transglutaminase is mainly isolated and extracted from the fermentation and metabolism products of Streptomyces mohara (also known as Streptomyces moyuan). It can be used as a food processing aid in meat products and can be added on demand in various meat products without labeling. It is a natural additive that can meet clean label requirements.

During meat processing, the gel-forming properties largely determine the properties of the finished product. The added transglutaminase can significantly improve the gel quality, improve the elasticity, sliceability and yield of meat. Therefore, transglutaminase is widely used in the processing of various meat products, and the application of transglutaminase in meat production includes the following aspects.

1. Optimize product texture and improve the quality of meat products

The texture structure of meat products is an important feature and a key factor affecting consumers' choices. Adding transglutaminase can significantly improve the quality of meat products. Some researchers have studied the effect of adding transglutaminase on the quality of chicken meatballs, and found that the amount of enzyme added is directly proportional to the hardness of chicken meatballs.
At the same time, the study found that adding 1% transglutaminase to the ham sausage meat can significantly improve the hardness, elasticity and chewiness of the ham sausage. Adding transglutaminase to ham improves the sliceability of ham.

2. Enhance the water holding performance of the product and improve the cooking yield

Water retention is an important quality index of meat products. It determines the edible quality of meat products such as color, aroma, taste, nutrition, juiciness and tenderness, and affects the economic value. Since the space network structure formed by the catalysis of transglutaminase can hold a large amount of water, it can prevent the water shrinkage of meat products during processing and improve the cooking yield of products.

3. Recombination of minced meat

In the process of meat processing, minced meat and meat dregs are often produced. How to recombine these low-value meats to improve their application value and economic value is a key problem that all meat factories need to solve urgently. Transglutaminase can form intramolecular and intermolecular crosslinks of proteins, so it has been widely used in the reconstruction of meat products.
Transglutaminase catalyzes the intramolecular and intermolecular cross-linking of proteins to form new proteins, and the general molecular chains are not easy to break under non-enzymatic conditions. Therefore, the meat treated with this enzyme will not crack even after freezing, thawing, cooking and other treatments. The use of transglutaminase can recombine minced meat into a complete large piece of meat, which greatly improves the utilization of raw materials.

4. Develop healthy and nutritious meat products

Salt and phosphate play an important role in the structure of meat products and are necessary food additives in meat processing. However, long-term intake of excessive salt is harmful to the human body, so the development of low-salt, healthy and nutritious meat products has become a research focus of meat products in recent years. Transglutaminase is a powerful tool for the development of such products.
During the production of meat products, transglutaminase can reduce the amount of food additives, while maintaining the original meat flavor of meat. For example, if the amount of salt in the sausage is reduced to 0.5%, and then 0.25% transglutaminase is added, the sensory quality of the sausage is not much different from that of the sausage with 1.8% salt added. This shows that transglutaminase can greatly improve the gel strength. At the same time, compared with only adding 0.3% phosphate to sausage and adding transglutaminase only, there was no obvious difference in sausage texture.

5. Expand the source of raw meat

Beef, mutton, and poultry are rich in nutrients, low in fat, and high in protein. In the meat consumption structure, it has risen to 35% at present. 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, but due to the defects of raw meat itself, the development of such products is limited. For example, chicken is used as raw material to produce sausage, and the hardness of the product is not high. However, using chicken as raw material, by adding transglutaminase, it was found that the hardness and elasticity of sausages were significantly improved.
The blood in the muscle tissue is a natural nutrient substance, but the chemical composition in the blood is unstable and easily oxidized, which affects the quality of the product. So blood is rarely used in meat processing.
Transglutaminase can be combined with hemoglobin and re-added to meat products through modification, which not only improves the color of meat products, retains the nutrients in meat, but also improves product stability and shelf life.

In summary, transglutaminase, as an excellent protein cross-linking agent, has been deeply studied in meat processing.
As consumers become more and more health conscious, research on the application of transglutaminase in future meat products focuses on two aspects:
One is to add a small amount of transglutaminase to improve the quality and added value of meat products, thereby increasing economic benefits;
The second is to use transglutaminase to develop new meat products with low salt, low fat and high nutritional value.