Mechanism of textural properties changes of cooked chicken in early postmortem: Effect of protein degradation induced by calpain on heating shrinkage

作者：Ma, Yunhao; Wang, Ying; Wang, Zhaoming; Chen, Bo; Xie, Yong; Tang, Cheng; Li, Cong; Zhou, Kai; Zhou, Hui; Xu, Baocai^*

来源：Food Chemistry, 2023, 417: 135901.

DOI：10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.135901

• Postmortem
• Chicken
• Myofibrillar protein
• Calpain
• Heating
• Cooking

Although the relationship between myofibrillar protein status and cooked meat quality is well documented, its underlying mechanism still need to be clarified. In this study, the effect of calpain-induced myofibrillar degra-dation on the cooked chicken quality was discussed by comparing the difference in muscle fiber's heat shrinkage state. In early postmortem, the protein around Z-line was degraded, which would cause the unstable Z-line and released into the sarcoplasm, according to WB results. This phenomenon will aggravate the lateral contraction of muscle fragments during the heating process. Then along comes a higher cooking loss and lower texture prop-erties of meat. Above findings indicate that the Z-line dissociation caused by calpain in the early postmortem period is an essential reason for the quality difference of mature chicken. This study provided a fresh light on the mechanism underlying the impact of myofibril degradation in the early postmortem on the quality of cooked chicken.