Effects of glycerol on the freezing behaviors and physicochemical properties of pork patties under freeze-thaw cycles

The effects of glycerol on the freezing curves, ice crystal morphology, and physicochemical properties such as water-holding capacity, colour, pH, lipid and protein oxidation of pork patties under freeze-thaw cycles were investigated in this work. The results showed that glycerol decreased freezing point and accelerated freezing rate of pork patties, causing small and evenly distributed ice crystals, which were beneficial to alleviate the destruction of the organization of pork patties. Also, under freeze-thaw cycles, the addition of glycerol delayed the increases in the thawing/cooking loss, L* values, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance levels, metmyoglobin content, and carbonyl group content, as well as the decreases in the pH, a* and b* values of pork patties. Summarily, the results indicated that glycerol alleviated the damage to the organization of pork patties under freeze-thaw cycles, which alleviated the oxidation of lipids and proteins, ultimately favoring to maintain the quality attributes. Therefore, the present work is attractive to the meat frozen preservation industry.