Injection of l-arginine or l-lysine alleviates freezing-induced deterioration of porcine Longissimus lumborum muscle

This work aimed to investigate the effects of pre-freezing injection of l-arginine and l-lysine on the processing performances of porcine Longissimus lumborum muscles. Two kinds of emulsion sausages were prepared from the porcine meat with pre-freezing and post-thawing injection, respectively; and their physicochemical properties were compared. The results showed that the former had significantly higher emulsion stability (lower cooking loss, total expressible fluid and expressible fat), higher texture (hardness, gumminess, cohesiveness and chewiness), and homogeneous microstructure (smaller, more uniform fat/oil droplets and more compact gel network) than the latter. Besides, the pre-freezing injection of l-arginine and l-lysine was more effective in increasing the storage modulus of meat batters, and delaying protein oxidation (lower carbonyl content and higher total sulfhydryl group) of emulsion sausage than the post-thawing injection. Summarily, the pre-freezing injection of l-arginine or l-lysine effectively alleviated the deterioration of the processing performance of porcine muscle during frozen storage.