The Action Principle of TG Enzyme on Meat Food

Transglutaminase enzyme is widely existed in nature. Different animals, plants, and microorganisms contain this enzyme. In the early days, TG could only be extracted from animal liver, and the cost was extremely high, and it could only be applied for medical and emergency use. In order to achieve mass production, from the early 1980s, microbial fermentation was used internationally to produce TG industrially, and it was found that Streptomyces, Streptomyces maurophyticus, Streptomyces griseus, Streptomyces cinnamomi and other microorganisms could produce TG.

1. The application advantages of transglutaminase enzyme

(1) Strong binding force: The covalent bond formed by TG catalysis is difficult to break under general non-enzyme catalytic conditions. Therefore, after the fragmented meat is form with TG processing, it will not be dispersed through frozen, sliced, and cooking treatment.

(2) PH stability is very good: The most suitable PH of TG is 6.0, but TG still has high activity in the range of pH5.0 to 8.0.

(3) Strong thermal stability: The optimal temperature of TG enzyme is about 50°C, and has high activity in the range of 45°C -55°C. Especially in the protein food system, the thermal stability of TG enzymes will be significantly improved. This characteristic will not be quickly lost in the general food processing process.

(4) In the process of catalytic protein reaction, temperature (within the temperature of maintaining enzyme activity) and time are negatively correlated: the higher the reaction temperature, the shorter the reaction time; conversely, the lower the temperature, the longer the time. The physicochemical properties of different types of foods are taken into account to decide the relationship between temperature and time during the reaction.

(5) Safety use: Since TG is widely found in animal tissues, people are always consuming foods containing (glutamyl)lysine isopeptide bonds catalyzed by TG, so foods produced with TG are not only safe for humans, but also beneficial to human well-being.

2. The application of transglutaminase enzyme in meat foods

At present, the arguments of transglutaminase enzyme in the food industry are mainly concentrated in the aspects of meat products, soy products, dairy products, etc. Among them, the application of meat products is relatively mature. TG can be used well in low temperature meat products. TG can reconstitute ground meat into medium and high quality bacon products, and can also be used in numerous low temperature ham and low temperature sausage products, significantly improving product quality and significantly reducing production costs.

The transglutaminase enzyme is used in medium and high temperature meat, which can significantly improve the quality and taste of medium and high temperature products, and significantly reduce production costs. TG can reorganize minced meat into steaks to significantly improve the quality and tenderness of steak. TG is used in meat products, which improves the elasticity of meat products, improves product quality and flavor, improves production rate, reduces production costs, and can also develop low-salt and low-fat meat products.