Abstract

Ham processing generates significant volumes of brine, a saline wastewater with untapped potential. This study compared three protein recovery methods: direct centrifugation, moderate heat treatment (75 °C), and a combined pH-shift-mild heat (PSMH) approach (65 °C). Both the PSMH method and moderate heat precipitation produced protein concentrates with the highest initial protein contents (62.15%–62.81%), which increased to 91.65%–95.59% purity after desalting, with NaCl levels reduced to <1.5%. Amino acid analysis revealed that PSMH-derived proteins had the highest total amino acid content (96.58 g/100 g). Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis confirmed improved recovery of muscle proteins, while Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that moderate heat treatment reduced the α-helix/β-sheet ratio. Proteins recovered using PSMH exhibited the highest water and fat binding capacities and maintained solubility across a broad pH range. They also exhibited strong foaming ability, although they showed slightly lower foam stability than proteins recovered by other methods, and they demonstrated emulsifying properties that were optimal under mildly alkaline conditions. Overall, PSMH presents a sustainable and efficient strategy for recovering functional proteins from ham brine for use in food and feed applications.

Keywords

food ingredients, meat by-products, resource recovery, valorisation, wastewater

Publication Date

2026-01-01

Publication Title

International Journal of Food Science and Technology

Volume

61

Issue

1

ISSN

0950-5423

Deposit Date

2026-06-02

Funding

This work was supported by the TU Dublin Researcher Award and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2023RP1040).

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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