The results showed that addition of 1500 ppm green tea extract led
to an increased molecular weight of the monomer MHC as observed in
the lane profiles from the gel electrophoresis (Fig. 5). These modifications
may be ascribed to the generation of TQ-adducts as the modified
protein contained only limited free thiols. TQ-adducts may facilitate
phenol-mediated protein polymerization to yield protein–phenol–
protein cross-links as recently proposed by Jongberg et al. (2013) for
meat sausages. Such interactions may be responsible for the increased
loss in overall thiols by the elevated green tea extract concentrations,
and consequently explain the higher levels of cross-links as compared
to the control and the meat emulsion added 100 ppm green tea extract.