The effect of transglutaminase as a binding agent in mixture of meat and non-meat gels on water holding properties at different cooking conditions

The influence of cooking methods (water bath, retort, and microwave) on the binding and water holding proper-ties of mixed pork/casein gels with (2.5 or 5 g kg^-1) or without (control) microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) was investigated using puncture test measurements. The MTGase treatment improved (P < 0.0001) water-holding capacity, reduced (P <0.0001) cooking loss (CL), purge and expressible water (EW), and increased (P <0.0001) the gel hardness and breaking strength as measured by compression and puncture tests. Microwave-cooked mixed gels had the lowest hardness but least CL and EW than retort and water bath-cooked samples. The results sug-gested that MTGase influenced the gel properties of pork muscle/non muscle gels, but the effectiveness of the en-zyme treatment depended on the cooking methods.