Combination of NMR and MRI quantitation of structure and structure changes for convection cooking of fresh chicken meat

This study demonstrates that a combination of bulk NMR and magnetic resonance imaging measurements of the T-2 values of water protons can be used to determine the heat-induced changes in the structure and moisture content of fresh chicken meat which had been cooked in a convection oven at 200 degrees C for a range of times. The gravimetric moisture content was also determined for both the raw and cooked meat. Multi-exponential fitting of the bulk NMR T-2 relaxation time data demonstrated three distinct water populations T-21 (39-43 ms). T-22 (82-99 ms) and T-23 (2-3 ms) for raw meat which changed to 18-31 ms (T-21), 61 208 ms (T-22) and 3-7 ms (T-21) after the meat had been cooked. The T-1 and T-2 values obtained by MRI for cooked meat decreased progressively with increased heating time. There are (r = 0.986; p < 0.01), and also between the normalised M-n values from MRI and the gravimetric moisture content (r = 0.953; p < 0.01). (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.