Preparation Of Thermo-sensitive Antimicrobial Emulgel And Its Application On Chilled Meat Preservation

Spoilage and weight loss have been a hot issue in the field of preservation of refrigerated meat. Eugenol(Eu) is the principal constituent of clove oil, which is regularly used as a traditional seasoning to enhance the sensory quality of foods in China.It exhibits an excellent broad-spectrum antibacterial activity thanks to the presence of phenolic group in its chemical structures. However, the use of Eu in foods could be limited due to its poor solubility and high volatility. In this study, Eu emulgel were prepared by low-energy and high-energy emulsification technology. The emulsion was mixed with gelatin innovatively to creat a thermo-sensitive antimicrobial emulgel. The emugel was prepared to make microcapsule by spray drying technology. In this research,the interaction between Eu and gelatin, antibacterial effect and preservation of meat quality were studied. This study could provide an effective method to solve the problem in refrigerated meat.The main research contents and results were indicated as follows:1. Preparation of emulgel. The microscope, SEM and texture analysis and so on were untilized to study the internal structure and gel strength of emulgel. At the same time, the anticterial property was also studied. The results indicated that the presence of surfactant could destroy the internal structure of gelatin and influence the gel properties.However, emulsion particle could distribute evenly in emulgel and have no significtant effect on microstructure of gelatin by high-energy emulsification technology. These results were accordance with the reulsts of texture analysis that emulgel prepared by high-energy technology could significantly improve gel strength. Antibacterial experiment also showed the same result that antibacterial effect of emulgel prepared by high-energy was better than emulgel prepared by low-energy emulsification technology.2. Preparation of microcapsule. Study found that microcapsules prepared by low-energy were 10% higher than those prepared by high-energy. Through SEM observation, we studied the microstructure of microcapsule and gel structure after dissolving. Apparent morphology of microcapsule prepared by low-energy emulsificationtechnology was smoother. The results indicated that the microcapsules prepared by low energy were better in embedding eugenol. DSC results showed that spray drying had no effect on the gel-sol point of emulgel. The interaction between gelatin and Eu were mainly hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interaction. These could decrease with the decline of temperature.3. Preservation of meat. The preservation effect of two kinds of preparation method of emulgel and the synergistic effect of emulgel combined with nisin were studied. The study found that the emulgel could significantly lower weigh loss than the control group.The antibacterial effect of high-energy of emulgel was better than that of low-energy emugel. The addition of nisin could enhance the antibacterial effent of emulgel.The bacteriostatic effect of the emulgel could extend the shelf life of refrigerated meat more than 3 days. This was very important in solving weight loss and growth of microorganism during the distribution and storage of refrigerated meat.