Ultrasonic‐assisted phosphate curing: a novel approach to improve curing rate and chicken meat quality

Summary The effects of ultrasound‐assisted phosphate curing (UPC), phosphate curing (PC), and deionised water curing (DC) on the quality of chicken breast meat were investigated. The analysis of tissue sections, low‐field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF‐NMR), and headspace solid‐phase microextraction gas‐phase mass spectrometry (HS‐SPME‐GC‐MS) of water distribution, myofibrillary structure, and volatile components of the meat samples were performed to reveal the mechanism. Also, the curing rate, water holding capacity (WHC), and shear force of meat were assessed. The results revealed that ultrasonic‐assisted salting improved the meat salting rate, WHC, and tenderness by mechanically destroying the muscle fibre structure, increasing the space between the muscle fibre bundles, promoting water migration and uniform distribution, and reducing water freedom in the treated samples. In addition, HS‐SPME‐GC‐MS analysis revealed that PC significantly reduced the content of volatile flavour components in the chicken breast meat compared with DC ( P < 0.05); however, the combination treatment with PC and ultrasonic curing could reconstruct the flavour loss caused by phosphate. Thus, our cumulative results suggest that the ultrasonic technology may effectively assist the processing technology in improving the quality of meat and reconstructing the flavour loss in meat products.