Quality variation and mechanisms during storage between meat inside rice dumplings and regular cooked meat and the ameliorative effect of hydrophilic colloids

Abstract The objective of this study was to comprehensively explore the quality variations and underlying mechanisms of meat inside rice dumplings (MIR) during storage and to conduct a comparative analysis with regular cooked meat (RCM). By examining the physicochemical indexes (including texture profile analysis, moisture content, and distribution), protein oxidation, and microstructure of MIR and RCM at different storage temperatures (4 °C, 25 °C), significant differences were discovered. The results showed that under the influence of the glutinous rice system, water migration changes, and the water forms in the meat transform accordingly. This accelerates protein oxidation in the meat and promotes muscle fibre structure change, ultimately leading to more significant change in the edible quality of the meat in zongzi during storage. Under normal temperature storage conditions, the meat in zongzi undergoes particularly significant texture changes with its hardness reaching 2.78 times the initial hardness after 30 days of storage. Additionally, the study finds that adding hydrophilic colloids like xanthan gum (XG) can effectively slow down water migration, thus significantly retarding the quality deterioration of the meat in zongzi during storage.