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International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture

ISSN Online: 2578-3475 ISSN Print: 2578-3467 CODEN: IJFSJ3
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ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2025.12.012

Physical and Textural Properties of Transglutaminase Treated Protein-enriched Extruded Snacks

Akinbode A. Adedeji1,*, Felix Akharume1, Youling L. Xiong2

1Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA.

2Animal and Food Science Department, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA.

*Corresponding author: Akinbode A. Adedeji

This work was supported by the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station (KAES), the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Hatch-Multistate project #: 1024529.
Published: January 14,2026

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the effect of microbial transglutaminase (MTGase), which is often used as a processing aid in formulating food products, on some physical and textural properties of extruded snacks. The base ingredients were cornmeal enriched with protein sources from pea protein and cheddar cheese, which were added at 10% and 5% w/w, respectively. MTGase was added at 0.7% w/w, and the moisture content of the formulation was kept at 16.5 ± 1%, wet basis. The extrusion processing conditions used were a 58 g/min feed rate, a screw speed of 400 rpm, and a die temperature of 140°C. The selected physico-textural properties of the extrudates determined include radial expansion ratio (RER), bulk and apparent densities, water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), porosity, fracturability, and hardness. The results showed that extruded snacks made from pure cornmeal in comparison to the extruded snacks made from cornmeal in combination with other added ingredients (MTGase treated proteins and untreated proteins) had the highest radial expansion ratio (2.9 ± 0.2) and porosity (92.7 ± 0.03%) as well as the least apparent density (1.3 ± 0.0 g/cm3), bulk density (0.1 ± 0.0 g/cm3), water solubility index (8.8 ± 1.4%), hardness (28.4 ± 8.2 N) and fracturability (29.9 ± 9.1 N). There was a significant (P<0.05) difference in the bulk density and porosity, but no apparent difference in density for protein-rich snacks treated MTGase compared to protein-rich snacks without MTGase. No significant (P<0.05) difference was observed in the WAI, WSI, RER, hardness, and fracturability due to the addition of MTGase to the protein-rich extruded snacks. While the effect of MTGase treatment on protein was not significant on the physical and textural characteristics of the ex-truded snacks, the FTIR spectra showed evidence of some protein cross-linking for the MTGase-based sample. Future work will aim to optimize the effect of MTGase addition protein modification in high protein extrudate.

Keywords

Microbial transglutaminase; MTGase; pea protein isolate; cornmeal; extrusion

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How to cite this paper

Physical and Textural Properties of Transglutaminase Treated Protein-enriched Extruded Snacks

How to cite this paper: Akinbode A. Adedeji, Felix Akharume, Youling L. Xiong. (2025) Physical and Textural Properties of Transglutaminase Treated Protein-enriched Extruded Snacks. International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture, 9(4), 357-367.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2025.12.012

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