Effects of Citrus Fiber on the Stability of Chicken Myofibrillar Protein Emulsions Under Low-Salt Conditions

In this experiment, myofibrillar proteins were extracted from chicken breast meat to prepared emulsions. The effects of different concentrations of citrus fiber (0%, 1.5%, 3%, 4.5%, CF) on the stability of chicken myofibrillar protein (MP) emulsions under low-salt conditions (0.3 mol/L NaCl) were investigated by measuring the apparent stability, Turbiscan stability index, droplet size, rheological properties, microstructure of emulsion and the content of adsorbed protein in the oil-water phase. The results showed that with the increase of citrus fiber concentration, Turbiscan stability index value and oil droplet size of the emulsions gradually decreased, while the apparent stability, apparent viscosity, storage modulus, loss modulus, and adsorbed protein content of the emulsion layer obviously increased. Laser confocal results showed that myofibrillar proteins were uniformly distributed around the oil droplets, and cryo-electron microscopy results showed that the oil droplets were uniformly distributed in the three-dimensional network structure formed by citrus fibers. When the addition amount of citrus fiber was 4.5%, the prepared emulsions reached a relatively stable state after being stored at 4 ℃ for 7 days, and no emulsion stratification was observed. These above results indicate that citrus fiber might be a potential emulsifier in improving the stability of low-salt myofibrillar protein emulsions.