A new enzymatic method for measuring the degree of gelatinized starch in meat products

•Magnetic stirring and alkaline treatment were combined as mechanical pretreatment.•More accurate results were provided after mechanical pretreatment.•The method was applied for both low-fat and high-fat content meat samples. In this work, a new enzymatic method is proposed to evaluate an accurate degree of gelatinized starch (DSG) in meat products with different fat contents, based on our previous work. The optimal parameters of the sample resolubilization steps involved mechanical stirring speeds, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentrations, and resolubilization times before enzymatic hydrolysis. The DSG values were calculated using the total starch content and gelatinized starch content of each sample. The optimized resolubilization steps for measuring the total starch content included 400 rpm stirring and incubation for 60 min at room temperature in 0.5 M NaOH. The optimized resolubilization steps for measuring gelatinized starch content included 400 rpm stirring and incubation for 60 min at room temperature in 80 mM NaOH. The resolubilization steps successfully eliminated the impact of higher fat content, improving the accuracy of the results. This work indicates that the new enzymatic method for evaluating the DSG of meat products was efficient, precise, and simple.