Effects of conjugates of ε-polylysine-dextran created through Maillard reaction on quality and storage stability of the chicken gel.

The present study mainly focused on the effects of the conjugates of PL-dextran produced through the Maillard reaction on the quality and storage stability of chicken gel for 5 days at 4 ℃. According to the results of the texture profile, water retention capacity (WRC), low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF NMR), aerobic plate count (APC), and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN), ε-polylysine (PL) could improve chicken gel storage stability while decreasing the quality of protein gels (p < 0.05). Additionally, adding dextran with high or low molecular weight could significantly increase the quality of gel during storage (p < 0.05), whereas decreased storage stability could be obtained (p < 0.05). In general, conjugates formed by PL and dextran with high molecular weight were beneficial for quality maintenance. In comparison, the polymers produced from the low molecular weight of dextran could modify the storage stability of gels. Adding conjugates of dextran and PL benefited the structure formation of protein gel, while PL would retain part of antibacterial activity when crosslinked with dextran. Therefore, it could be concluded that the quality improvement effect of PL-dextran addition on gel quality was greater than its antibacterial effect, which would impact the formulation design of novel emulsion-type meat products.