Use of low-field nuclear magnetic resonance to characterize water properties in frozen chicken breasts thawed under high pressure

The state of water in high-pressure-thawed and conventionally water bath-thawed chicken breasts was analyzed using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance. The influence of high-pressure thawing on water holding capacity, including thawing loss, cooking loss and expressible fluid, was evaluated. Thawing loss was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) compared to the conventional thawing method but neither cooking loss nor total expressible fluid changed significantly (p > 0.05). Higher thawing pressures lead to the T₂₁ relaxation time being increased from 39.9 to 55.9 ms, and P₂₁ increased from 89.5 to 94.9 %. Significant negative correlations (p < 0.01) were observed between the thawing loss and T₂₁, T₂₂, P₂₁. These results indicate that high thawing pressures can transform the water from the loosely bound water fraction (T₂₂) to a more tightly bound (T₂₁) water fraction with the increase in water relaxation time.