Assessment of different methods for determining the capacity of water absorption of ingredients and additives used in the meat industry

Water absorption capacity (WAC) basically consists in the method for quantify the water retained by the pelleted material in the centrifuge tube after adding water or an aqueous solution to a material. This property is economically important because it affects the yield and quality of meat products (cooked hams, sausages and mortadellas). The aim of this study was to evaluate three methods for determining WAC and to compare the values obtained for thirteen different ingredients (proteins and polysaccharides) used in the meat industry. There was a significant difference (p <0.05) in the WAC values (%) obtained for the three methods. Only the cassava starch showed similar % WAC results, regardless of the evaluation method used. The highest percentages of WAC were obtained for a sample of modified starch with up to 666.62%, and also 648.22% for guar gum and 573.90% for soy protein isolate. Method 1 (addition of water) showed results that were most consistent with the literature data and higher WAC values for seven of the thirteen samples tested, thus this was the best method.