Properties of Myofibrillar Protein Emulsion Microgels: Effect of pH

Abstract:

Myofibrillar protein emulsion microgels is a kind of discrete spherical particles formed by the aggregation of denatured proteins on the emulsion droplets when the myofibrillar protein emulsion is heated and sheared at the same time. In this investigation, the effects of pH on the rheological properties of myofibrillar protein emulsion microgels were studied by measuring the rheological behavior and microstructure of microgels prepared under different pH conditions. Results showed that the particle size of myofibrillar emulsion microgels under strong acid condition and near its isoelectric point was significantly larger than that of other pH ranges. The emulsion microgels under different pH were all non-Newtonian fluids with the pseudoplastic fluid characteristics, and pH condition would not change the fluid type of emulsion microgels. The viscosity first decreased and then increased with the increase of pH value. At pH 6, myofibrillar emulsion microgels showed the highest viscoelasticity at low frequency sweep with the optimum thixotropy. In the shear resilience test, the structure of microgel particles was damaged to a certain extent, while the optimal recovery was achieved at pH 5.