Low frequency magnetic field plus high pH promote the quality of pork myofibrillar protein gel: A novel study combined with low field NMR and Raman spectroscopy

This study investigated the combined effects of low frequency magnetic field (LF-MF) (3.8 mT) and pH (5-7) on pork myofibrillar protein (MP) gel quality. With LF-MF applying, the water ratio and migration rate both changed to varying extents. LF-MF modified secondary structure of MP by exposing tryptophan and tyrosine residues to participate in hydrogen bonding with water, as well changing alpha-helix and beta-sheet to varying extents; LF-MF also drove molecular rearrangement and crosslinking. LF-MF brought gel larger and more ordered network to trap more water. And the water holding capacity of gels significantly increased by 2.50% and 2.47% when LF-MF involved at appropriate pH (pH 6.5 and 7.0). Collectively, our results support an optimum treatment (pH 6.5 or 7.0 with applying LF-MF) for the improvement in gel quality of pork MP, and the combination of physical and chemical treatments casts a new light into improving product quality during meat processing.