Investigation the effects of protein hydration states on the mobility water and fat in meat batters by LF-NMR technique

•The LF-NMR technique for assessing the mobility water and fat in meat batters was investigated.•A new relaxation component T23 (200-300 ms) was observed after heating.•The effect of fat on relaxation time T22 of emulsion gel was higher than water.•Water presented higher influence on T23 in emulsion gel compared to fat.

The use of LF-NMR technique for assessing the influence of meat protein hydration states on the mobility water and fat in meat batters was investigated. Three relaxation components, T22 (50 ms), T2b and T21 (lower than 10 ms) were found in meat group and fat group. The number of relaxation components in meat batters was not affected by water or fat addition, but the major component T22 clearly shifted to longer relaxation time (from 50 ms to 66 ms) with added water and fat. The relaxation time of heated meat emulsions was lowered, indicating that water and fat proton mobility was limited by heating. A new relaxation component T23 (200-300 ms) was observed after heating, which was deemed as attributing to free water and fat in emulsion gel. Besides, the effect of fat on relaxation time T22 of emulsion gel was higher than water. However, water presented higher influence on T23 in emulsion gel compared to fat. LF-NMR has been clearly demonstrated to be feasible to detect changes in the relaxation times of water and fat caused by different meat protein hydration states initially produced by meat batters with different treatments.