Effect of secondary heat-induced aggregation on pork meat batter protein conformation, hydration characteristics, textural quality and in vitro digestibility

and the highest in vitro digestibility. As this initial heating time was increased, the α-helix content, water-holding capacity (WHC) and protein digestibility all decreased. Furthermore, SH yielded a much more obvious decrease in the pepsin activity on the protein digestibility than just the initial heating, and also yielded increases in β-sheet content, hardness, gumminess, and chewiness. This result implied that gel shrinkage and protein aggregation occurred, causing decreased WHC and protein digestibility. Also, SH resulted in significantly decreased (P < 0.05) intensities of myosin light chain gel electrophoresis bands. Therefore, SH was concluded to have reduced the textural quality and nutritional value of the meat.