Effects of Protein Structure Changes on Texture of Scallop Adductor Muscles under Ultra-High Pressure

In order to investigate the effect of protein structure changes on the texture of scallop adductor muscles under ultra-high pressure, the protein structure, hardness, elasticity, cohesion, and chewing properties of untreated scallops maintained at 200 MPa for 60 s, 120 s, and 180 s were measured and compared. At the same time, sensory indicators were evaluated to verify the effect of ultra-high pressure treatment on the quality of scallop adductor muscles. The results indicated that the mass fraction of the α-helix was decreased by 13.70% and the mass fraction of β–folding was 2.72 times higher in the adductor muscle of scallops compared to the fresh adducts without ultra-high pressure treatment, maintained for 180 s at an ultra-high pressure of 200 MPa. At the same time, the value of I850/I830 of protein tyrosine residues was 1.094, which weakened the water retention ability of the protein, the elasticity of the scallop adduct was reduced from the original 7.16 N to 6.17 N, the cohesion was reduced by 3.76%, and the hardness was increased by 17.45%. This improved the cooking quality of scallops, which was consistent with the sensory evaluation results. Therefore, under ultra-high pressure treatment, changes in the protein structure of the adductor muscle of scallops had a certain impact on their texture, which was able to provide support for in-depth research on the mechanism of ultra-high pressure action.