Improvement of egg albumen powder functional properties by the Maillard reaction in a dry state.

摘要

Egg albumen offered a number of benefits over liquid eggs in terms of convenience, shelf life and microbiological safety. The ability of egg albumen proteins (EAP) to form heat-induced gels as well as stable foams by air incorporation and other important functional properties, which makes EAP applicable in a large variety of processed foods. Maillard-type reactions have ever been used to improve EAP functional properties, and it is considered to be suitable to food application because of its safety. In this paper, effect of the Maillard reaction between EAP and maltodextrin in dry state on functional properties of EAP was studied. Maltodextrin was conjugated to EAP (w/w=100:1, 100:3, 100:5) at 80 degrees C and 65% relative humidity for 0-14 days, and EAP (control group) and EA-maltodextrin conjugates (EAM) were the research object. The results showed that during the Maillard reaction gelling properties of EAP improved faster than EAM under the same conditions, but the gelling stability of EAP was not as good as EAP. After the Maillard reaction, water-holding capacity of EAP gels increased from 62% to 82%, foaming activity of EAP increased by 124%, while the foams stability decreased to 54%, and emulsifying capacity and emulsion stability increased by 196% and 174%, respectively. The results indicated that treatment time was significant for most functional properties of EAP.