Comparative studies on physicochemical properties of raw and hydrolyzed oat β-glucan and their application in low-fat meatballs

• Oat β-glucan and its hydrolyzates were used as fat replacers in low-fat meatballs.
• Physicochemical properties of raw and hydrolyzed oat β-glucans were characterized.
• OGH added low-fat meatball showed the highest overall accepatbility among samples.

Oat β-glucan and its hydrolyzates were used as fat replacers in the production of meatballs. The physicochemical properties of raw (OG) and hydrolyzed oat β-glucan (OGH), as well as their application in meatballs were studied. The average molecular weight of OG and OGH was determined by high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) and was found that OGH decreased from 6.6 × 106 Da to 9.4 × 105 Da (OG) after 1.5 h of enzymatic hydrolysis at 55 °C and pH 5.5 using a cellulase dose of 76 U/g. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis was applied to measure the size distribution of OG and OGH. The mean diameters of OG and OGH were 126.6 nm and 110.3 nm, respectively. The apparent viscosity of OG and OGH was studied at different concentrations (0.5%, 1.0%, 3.0%) and shear rates (1–300−1). Both OG and OGH had shear-thinning behavior and OGH exhibited a small decrease in the apparent viscosity. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results showed that OGH and OGH-added meatball (OGHM) had larger Tp than those of OG and OG-added meatball (OGM), respectively. SEM images of OGHM exhibited a more smooth surface than blank meatballs. Textural analysis and sensory evaluation results indicated that the OGH added with 10% fat-rich meatball showed the highest overall acceptability among the meatball samples, therefore oat β-glucan hydrolyzates are very promising dietary fiber source used as fat replacer in traditional meatball production.

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