The influence of additives on frozen snakehead fish surimi and the application of transglutaminase to fish cakes.

BACKGROUND

The co-product of cultured snakehead fish protein extraction is an abundant source of myofi- brillar protein, with the potential for application in the processing of frozen snakehead fish surimi. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of additives and incubation time on the quality of surimi and surimi-based products.

METHODS

Cryoprotectant (a mixture of sucrose and sorbitol at a ratio of 1:1 changed from 2% to 4%), in combination with sodium tripolyphosphate (0.1, 0.15, 0.2 and 0.25%), was added to surimi during its preparation. In addition, the study also investigated the ratio of transglutaminase supplementation (0.5, 0.7 and 0.9%) and incubation time (2, 4 and 6 h) in the processing of high-quality fried fish cakes from frozen snakehead fish surimi.

RESULTS

The results showed that, a combination of 3% cryoprotectant and 0.2% sodium tripolyphosphate helped maintain the quality of snakehead fish surimi after frozen storage. In the processing of fried fish cakes from frozen snakehead fish surimi, the addition of 0.7% transglutaminase (0.28 U/g surimi) with 4 h incubation significantly improved the gel properties of the product.

CONCLUSIONS

It is necessary to have appropriate additives and incubation time in the processing of surimi and surimi-based products from the co-product of cultured snakehead fish protein extraction.