Fig. 14 shows the crust-core interface of chicken nuggets fried at 175 C. At 0 min, the control nuggets (Fig. 14a) show a partial demarcation of crust and core layers, but this is not seen in the MC coated nugget (Fig. 14b). This may be due to higher pickup values observed for MC coated nuggets in Table 1. Transverse cracks and large pores are visible in control nugget, indicating moisture loss, but surface topography appears smoother with very less pores in MC coated nuggets, which is an indication of moisture retention. At 4 min frying time, both the control and MC nuggets (Fig. 14c and d) show clear demarcation in upper thick crust and a lower core layer which is porous, loose and lamellar. The outer part of the core layer appears more composite and inner part appears more porous indicating the oil migration only till the outer layer of the core and compensating to the average fat uptake in the chicken nuggets, as seen in the Sudan red dye experiments. The control nugget seems less porous and composite than the MC coated nuggets. This may be due to the collapse of porous structure due to oil uptake as seen in the fat analysis and depressurization as seen in pressure analysis section. This observation agrees with Rahman (2001) and Kassama and Ngadi (2004).