Effect of Ohmic Heating on the Functional Properties of Liquid Egg White

Egg is a rich and well-balanced source of essential nutrients for human diet composed of fatty acids, iron, phosphorus, trace minerals, vitamins A, B₆, B₁₂, D, E and K and proteins of high biological value (BV). Presently, the liquid egg white is pasteurized to 60° C and at this temperature egg white would coagulate and accumulate on heat exchanger plates reducing their efficiency. Alternatively ohmic heating can be adopted to pasteurize liquid egg white to increase the shelf life. Experiments were conductedat three different voltage gradients (5, 10, 15 V/cm) and at a holding time of 1 min, by using anohmic heating chamber of 150 ml capacity. The liquid egg white treated at 15V/cm was found to be optimal with respect to processing time and rate of denaturation. The foaming capacity of raw egg white increased on storage while the pasteurized liquid egg white which was maintained at ambient and refrigerated condition exhibited lower foaming capacity. The gelling property of pasteurized egg white gel was studied using texture profile analyzer and found to be more elastic where as the raw egg white gel was soft.