Ten kinds of starches from different botanical origin have been used to investigate their effects on rheological characteristics of starch/meat complexes (SM complexes). The rheological characteristics were determined using dynamic oscillatory measurements and texture profile analysis. The addition of starch resulted in a decrease in cooking loss and increase in both storage modulus (G) and loss modulus (G"). Adding starch also reduced the leaching out from meat protein. Potato SM complex yielded the highest cooking loss among all the SM complexes used. The temperature sweep showed that the dramatic increase in G' and G" was associated with the gelatinization of starch. The correlations between starch properties and rheological characteristics of SM complex were discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.