Eletrophoretic profile of exudate of chicken breast submitted to different thawing methods

The objective of this study was to characterize the exudates resulting from the thawing of half chicken breasts that had first been submitted to fast freezing (-36°C for 2 hours) and then thawed using the following five different methods: REFRI (under refrigeration in a domestic refrigerator at ± 7°C for 22 hours); MICRO (in a microwave for 6 minutes); STOVE (in an oven with air circulation at ± 40°C for 2 hours and 15 minutes); BATH (packed in low-density polyethylene bags and placed in a cold water bath at ± 10°C for 2 hours and 15 minutes); and ROOM (ambient temperature at ± 17°C for 2 hours and 20 minutes). After thawing, protein concentration (mg/mL) was determined and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was performed. No significant differences were found (p> 0.05) in protein concentration present in the exudates for REFRI, STOVE, BATH and ROOM treatments but making the correlation with protein concentration and % of exudate released the MICRO and ROOM showed the greatest losses of proteins. The results indicated that the thawing methods affected the electrophoretic profile of the exudates that were generated and the percentage of exudate that was released. It was found that the samples with a higher percentage of exudate also had a higher quantity of bands and greater intensity, which proved the existence of greater damage to the meat proteins, generating fragmentation, loss of structure and the release of small peptides which affected the nutritional quality of the meat and its functionality. Thawing at low temperatures seemed to cause less damage to the meat structure and maintained the properties of the meat. Therefore, it was concluded that this was the best option for thawing. Exudates are often discarded, but they contain proteins that play important roles in the gelatinization process, and they have the potential to be used, which would reduce losses at the industrial level.