Application of a vibration damping technique in characterizing mechanical properties of chicken meat batters modified with amaranth

Thermal analysis, texture profile analysis, water holding capacity and dynamic mechanical testing methods were used for study of the physico-chemical and mechanical properties of the model chicken meat batters modified by the addition of amaranth flour. It was found that the addition of the amaranth effectively modified and improved their textural and nutritional properties. Further, the addition of calcium dihydrogen phosphate to the complex meat batter was shown to enhance formation of the creation of the three dimensional gel networks during protein denaturation, which resulted in increased tenderness of the product, as was demonstrated by decreased hardness, toughness and gumminess of the chicken batters with the increase of amaranth concentration. These findings were supported by dynamic mechanical vibration testing experiments and by increased water holding capacity. After amaranth flour addition, the observed frequency dependence of the measured damping transfer function of the tested samples showed typical viscoelastic behaviour rather than pure elastic behaviour. The first resonance peak frequency shifted from 200 Hz for unmodified chicken batter to 120 Hz for batter with 1 wt% amaranth concentration and 0.45 wt% calcium dihydrogen phosphate. Formation of a hydrocolloid gel structure was confirmed by thermal analysis experiments, which showed decreased DTA protein denaturation temperature peak position from 101.3 °C for the unmodified batter to 90.6 °C for batter with 2 wt% amaranth. Interestingly, after addition of a Ca 2+ crosslinking agent into the matrix, thermal resistance of the gel phase increased, which was reflected by the increased latter denaturation peak position from 93.7 °C (for 1.5 wt% amaranth concentration chicken meat batters without calcium dihydrogen phosphate) to 108.8 °C for 0.45 wt% crosslinking agent calcium dihydrogen phosphate and 1.5 wt% amaranth concentration chicken meat batters.