Papain Application: Improving The Tenderness Of Meat Products

Tenderness is one of the key indicators for evaluating the quality of meat products, and it has an important impact on consumers' evaluation of the quality and taste of meat products. There are many and complex factors that affect meat tenderness, including fat distribution in muscles and solubility of connective tissue. At present, tender meat products are increasingly favored by consumers, and how to improve the tenderness of meat products has become one of the key issues of the current food processing industry.

The improvement of the tenderness of meat products is mainly achieved through the action of proteases, among which papain is the most widely used in the tenderness of meat products. Papain is a hydrolytic enzyme that hydrolyzes proteins. It has abundant sources, low prices, fast reaction speed, and can be extracted from animal tissues. In terms of improving the tenderness of meat, papain is considered to be the most promising proteolytic enzyme.

At present, the application of papain in meat products is mainly to improve the tenderness of meat products by adding it to meat products. Through the study of the use of papain, the best conditions for use, and the effect of improving the tenderness of meat, it was found that the best effect on improving the tenderness of meat products was found when the temperature was 35℃, the pH value was 6~8, and the addition amount was 0.3~0.6g/kg.

Source of papain

Papain was first isolated by Japanese scientists from papaya as a protease. Because of its good alkaline stability and thermal stability, it can maintain activity in a wide temperature range and can be used under neutral to weak alkaline conditions. Therefore, it is often used as an enzyme preparation in food processing. At present, adding papain to meat and meat products has become an international trend.

Mechanism of action

As a proteolytic enzyme, papain enzyme can hydrolyze the connective tissue in the muscle, thinning and breaking the muscle fibers, thereby achieving the purpose of tenderizing meat products. Papain can degrade the connective tissue in the meat and the more complex collagen and elastin in the muscle fibers. This degradation effect causes the structure of the meat to be properly destroyed, thereby achieving the tenderization of the meat. Papain can also improve the digestibility of meat products because it can degrade ligament proteins in meat products, making them easier to digest and absorb. Papain can accelerate the formation of dipeptides and peptides, which have strong pH and can make meat products appear bright red or pink, increasing their color appeal. In addition, papain can also improve the flavor of meat products, increase their taste and flavor richness.

Preparation of enzyme preparations

In the preparation of enzyme preparations, by separating and purifying the enzymes and analyzing the properties of the enzymes, the enzymes can play the greatest role in meat products. At present, manufacturers use bioengineering technology to prepare enzyme preparations. Compared with chemical synthesis, papain produced by bioengineering technology has higher activity and lower production costs.

Since papain is expensive and difficult to produce on a large scale in the market, the production efficiency of papain can be improved by modifying papain strains, increasing the activity of papain, and reducing production costs.

Effect on improving the tenderness of meat products

Under the experimental conditions, when the amount of papain added was 0.3~0.6g/kg, the tenderness of meat products was the best, especially beef products. The best use conditions were temperature of 35℃, pH value of 6~8, and amount of addition of 0.3~0.6g/kg. Under these conditions, compared with the control group, the moisture content of beef products decreased by 0.30%~0.37%, pH value decreased by 0.26~0.34, shear force decreased by 0.07~0.09N/kg, and the tenderness of beef products was significantly improved. The optimal amount of pork products added under the experimental conditions was 0.6g/kg. The experiment showed that papain had the best effect on improving the tenderness of beef products, followed by pork products, and the worst effect on chicken products.

Application prospects of papain in meat products

Papain is widely used in meat products, but its mechanism of action and influencing factors in meat products are not clear, and its effect on improving the quality of meat products is not ideal. Therefore, in-depth research on the mechanism of action of papain in meat products and further improvement of its application effect in meat products are of great significance to promote the development of papain in the meat industry.

At present, internationally recognized safe proteases include papain, bromelain, subtilisin, ficin and other proteases, which can achieve meat tenderization by degrading muscle fibers and collagen to varying degrees. For more information, please consult us.