Low Field-NMR in Measuring Water Mobility and Distribution in Beef Granules during Drying Process

Low field-nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) was employed in this study to evaluate water mobility and distribution in beef granules during drying process due to its fast and nondestructive detection. Beef granules were dried in a blast drying oven at different temperatures (40, 50 and 60 °C) to a final moisture content around 21% after cooking. Results showed that it took about 150, 90 and 60 min for the samples dried at 40, 50 and 60 °C to get to the drying destination, respectively. The immobilized water was transformed into bound water with lower association degree and free water during drying at different conditions. Drying also resulted in a proportion increase of bound water; what’s more, the proportion of bound water is the largest when drying at 50 °C compared to 40 and 60 °C. After the drying destination was reached, the transverse relaxation time for bound water and immobilized water appeared significant change. It revealed that LF-NMR was an effective tool to assess water mobility and distribution during food drying process.