Desorption isotherms and glass transition temperature for chicken meat

Desorption isotherms of chicken meat were obtained at different temperatures in the range 4-30 degreesC and at eight levels of salt solutions using the Novasina AWC203 multi-channel system. Several models were tested to describe the experimental sorption data; the Ferro Fontan model followed by the GAB equation gave the best fit for the whole range of water activity and temperatures, and the characteristic parameters that take into account the effect of temperature were determined. The BET and GAB models were comparable to predict the monolayer value, which was in agreement with the results obtained by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The glass transition temperature of the maximum cryo-concentrated solution, T'(g), was measured by using DSC and an average value of -16.83 degreesC was determined. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.