Color, physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant activities of preserved egg white pickled at different temperatures

This study was conducted to explore the effects of temperatures (4 °C, 25 °C and 37 °C) on the color, physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant activities of preserved egg white (PEW). As the marinating days and temperatures increased, the color of PEW deepened and the content of intermediate/browning/fluorescent products increased, whereas the pH increased firstly and then decreased. FTIR suggested that Maillard reaction products (MRPs) may not be identical in PEW pickled at different temperatures. Cysteine was the most dominant site for the covalent binding between proteins and polysaccharides during the Maillard reaction (MR) in PEW. On the whole, the reducing power, Fe2+ chelating activity and ABTS radical scavenging activity of PEW pickled at different temperatures all showed a trend of increasing firstly and then decreasing during pickling. Temperature played a significant effect on the color formation of PEW, and PEW possessed antioxidant activity and could be applied in the food industry as a potential antioxidant.