Low-Field NMR Analysis of Chicken Patties Prepared with Woody Breast Meat and Implications to Meat Quality

The scope of this paper was to investigate the effects of water distribution differences on the quality and feasibility of chicken patties supplemented with woody breast (WB). Chicken patties, containing differing amounts of WB (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) were analyzed using low-field NMR. Quality differences between chicken patties were further evaluated by combining lipid and protein properties, fry loss (FL), color (L*, a*, b*), texture (hardness, springiness, chewiness, cohesiveness, resilience), microstructure, and sensory characteristics. The results expressed that both lipid and protein oxidation increased and immobilized water in chicken patties can be converted to free water more easily with increasing levels of WB. Additionally, the free water ratio decreased, water freedom increased, and the bound water ratio increased (p < 0.05). Fry loss, color, texture (hardness, springiness, chewiness), microstructure, and sensory (character, organization, taste) characteristics deteriorated significantly when the WB inclusion level exceeded 25%. Particularly, characteristics of texture (chewiness and character) and sensory (character and organization) decreased significantly as WB inclusion increased past 25% (p < 0.01). Furthermore, fry loss, texture, and overall microstructure partially confirmed the moisture variation of chicken patties as the potential cause of the abnormal quality. Although the experimental data expressed that mixing to 35% WB inclusion was feasible, the practical and economic impact recommends inclusion levels to not exceed 30%.

Low-Field NMR Study of Shortcake Biscuits with Cricket Powder, and Their Nutritional and Physical Characteristics

The growing human population renders challenges for the future supply of food products with high nutritional value. Here, we enhanced the functional and nutritional value of biscuits, a popular sweet snack, by replacing the wheat flour with 2%, 6%, or 10% (w/w) cricket powder. Consumer acceptance ratings for reference and 2% augmented cookies were comparable, whereas the higher levels of enhancement received inferior consumer scores. This relatively small change in biscuit recipe provided significant and nutritionally desirable enhancements in the biscuits, observed in a series of analyses. An increase in the protein content was observed, including essential amino acids, as well as minerals and fat. This conversion also affected the physical properties of the biscuits, including hardness, and water molecular dynamics measured by 1H NMR. Cricket powder-augmented biscuits join the line of enhanced, functionally superior food products. This and similar food augmentation provide a viable scenario to meet the human food demands in the future.

Detection of Planar Defects in Multilayered GFRP Composite Structures Using Low-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Adhesively bonded interfaces of glass fiber– reinforced plastics (GFRP) composite to rubber and rubber to propellant were investigated for planar interfacial defects with a spatial resolution of 100 μm. Single-sided low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) with a magnetic field strength of 0.3 T (12.88 MHz proton frequency) has been used for noninvasive inspection of planar defects in GFRP-based multilayered composite structures. Further, in this paper, the application of low-field NMR for adhesive liner thickness measurement is also demonstrated. The investigation revealed applicability of single-sided low-field NMR for onsite field applications. Results were compared with other nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques: acousto-ultrasonic and radiographic testing (RT). It is observed that single-sided low-field NMR is an excellent NDE tool to study adhesive bonds and defects such as debonding, variations in thickness to accuracies ranging from 50 to 200 μm, and degradation. In comparison with the acousto-ultrasonic technique and RT, single-sided low-field NMR is observed to be more sensitive.