Effect of magnetic field mediated CaCl on the edible quality of low-sodium minced pork gels.

Magnetic field combined with calcium chloride (CaCl,) treatment is a highly promising technique for reducing sodium chloride (NaCl) in meat. Therefore, this paper investigated the effect of reducing NaCl addition (0-10%) by CaCl in combination with a magnetic field (3.8 mT) on the edible quality of low-salt pork mince. It is desired to drive the application of magnetic field and CaCl in low-sodium meat processing in this way. Results showed that the cooking yield, color, hardness, elasticity, mouthfeel, apparent texture, and orderliness of protein conformation of all minced pork were improved as compared to the control group, while the electron nose response values of their volatile sulfides and nitrogen oxides were decreased. In particular, the best edible quality and perceived salty intensity of minced pork gel was obtained by using CaCl in place of 5% NaCl under magnetic field mediation. In addition, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy scans showed that the reduced NaCl treatment by magnetic field combined with CaCl could increase the signal intensity of sodium in minced pork matrices to some extent. Magnetic field-mediated substitution of NaCl for CaCl treatment was also found to be favorable for inducing the transition of the protein secondary structure from an irregularly coiled to a β-folded structure (demonstrated by infrared spectroscopy). In short, magnetic fields combined with CaCl instead of NaCl was a highly promising method of producing low-NaCl meats.