title: Physical crosslinkings of edible collagen casing.
abstract: Although edible collagen casing has been commercially used in meat industry, the safety and effectiveness of collagen cross-linking with minimally invasive treatments are still big concerns for manufacturers. In this study, ultraviolet irradiation (UV) and dehydrothermal treatment (DHT) were used to improve the properties of casing. UV, DHT, and their combination (UV+DHT) significantly increased tensile strength and decreased elongation at break of casing, in which DHT showed the best performance. Swelling of casing was also partially inhibited by the treatments. Furthermore, UV and DHT slightly improved thermal stability of the casings. In addition, X-ray diffraction patterns showed the treatments caused different extents of denaturation of collagen. No obvious effects in thickness and light transparency except for surface roughness were observed in the treated casings. The physical treatments could potentially be used as safe and effective alternatives to chemical cross-linking for the production of collage casing.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Ministry of Education, College of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China; Limerick Pulp and Paper Centre, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton E3B5A3, Canada. Electronic address: wangwenhang@tust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wenhang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Ministry of Education, College of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, University of Tennessee, TN 37996-4531, USA. Electronic address: ran.ye.email@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Limerick Pulp and Paper Centre, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton E3B5A3, Canada.
authors.forename: Yonghao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ni
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D002417:Cattle; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D007700:Kinetics; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature; D013718:Tensile Strength; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D003094:Collagen
keywords: Dehydrothermal treatment; Edible collagen casing; Ultraviolet irradiation