Combination treatment of high-pressure and CaCl2 for the reduction of sodium content in chicken meat batters: effects on physicochemical properties and sensory characteristics

Summary A combination of high-pressure processing (HPP, 200 MPa, 10 min) and CaCl 2 (0.2%, w/w) on the cooking loss (CL), expressible moisture (EM), textural properties (hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness and firmness) and sensory attributes of reduced-sodium (1.25% NaCl) chicken meat batters (RCMB) was investigated. The results revealed that combining HPP with CaCl 2 significantly decreased EM, elevated sensory properties and acted synergistically in reducing CL and improving hardness, chewiness and firmness, which enabled RCMB to obtain quality characteristics similar to those with high salt (2.5% NaCl) content. These changes brought about by combined HPP and CaCl 2 could be attributed to increased apparent viscosity and proportion of immobilised water, enhanced rheological (elastic) properties and a denser, homogeneous protein gel network with evenly dispersed small fat globules. It is interesting to take advantage of the synergy between moderate HPP and low concentrations of CaCl 2 to develop meat products with reduced sodium content.