Research Progress on the Effect of New Electrophysical Processing on Multiscale Protein Structure

Abstract

Protein is an important nutrient required by the human body. The change of protein structure during processing will lead to changes in its functional properties, in turn affecting the quality of foods. There are many physical methods available to alter the structure of proteins to expand their application in the food industry. The new electrophysical processing technology has become a hot spot in the field of food processing due to its advantages of high efficiency, low energy consumption, and slight loss of nutrients. Therefore, this paper reviews the effects of electric field technology (ohmic heating and electrostatic field) and electromagnetic field technology (microwave, radio frequency and magnetic field) on the change of protein structure at multiscales (macroscopic, molecular and microscopic levels), in order provide a theoretical basis for the development and utilization of electromagnetic field processed protein products.

Keywords

• electric field; electromagnetic field; multiscale; protein structure