Utilization of i-TRAQ technology to determine protein modifications in pork soup in response to addition of salt

During cooking of traditional Chinese meat-based soups, the presence or absence of salt creates a very different environment for the product during the cooking process, with potential nutritional effects. The protein profiles of soup included 2 % salt (Treated) and soup without salt (Control) were determined and showed significant proteolysis in the treated group. Proteolytic index of treated was 5 % higher than the control. 50.9 % of the differentially abundant proteins (112 proteins) shared in the comparison between control and treated groups using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification method. 13 collagen proteins were identified as upregulated proteins. Some disease-related proteins were down-regulated. Some bioactive peptides may also be generated by protein degradation in response to salt. These results indicated that addition of salt did not result in a negative effect on the pork soup, and could be positively related to protein nutrition.