Haixia Yu1,2, Shuibing Yang1,2, Chunhong Yuan3, Qinglan Hu1,2, Yuan Li1,2, Shiguo Chen2, Yaqin Hu1,2. 1. Ocean Research Center of Zhoushan, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan, China. 2. National Engineering Laboratory of Intelligent Food Technology and Equipment, Key Laboratory for Agro-Products Postharvest Handling of Ministry of Agriculture, Key Laboratory for Agro-Products Nutritional Evaluation of Ministry of Agriculture, Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Agro-Food Processing, Fuli Institute of Food Science, College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. 3. Production and Environmental Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Japan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Glass transition temperature (Tg ) and food moisture content are closely related, especially in foods with a high moisture content, such as surimi products. In order to improve storage condition and maintain food quality, the influence of six biopolymers on the Tg of hairtail fish meat paste was investigated by differential scanning colorimetry. RESULTS: Samples were stored at -8 °C (>Tg ), -14 °C (Tg ) and -18 °C (<Tg ) for 105 days. The results showed that trehalose, maltodextrin and xanthan could obviously improve the Tg of the hairtail fish meat paste. Trehalose at 4.1% (w/w), maltodextrin at 5.0% and xanthan at 0.41% were determined as the optimum amounts, with the predicted value of Tg to be -14.1 °C. The total viable counts (TVC) and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) of samples stored at -14 and -18 °C were much lower and the gel strength and whiteness maintained much better than those of -8 °C. CONCLUSION: Addition of biopolymers could effectively restrain the increase in TVC and TVB-N, as well as the dropping of gel strength and whiteness of fish meat paste during storage. A mixture of the biopolymers could improve Tg and showed great potential in the preservation of hairtail meat products.
BACKGROUND: Glass transition temperature (Tg ) and food moisture content are closely related, especially in foods with a high moisture content, such as surimi products. In order to improve storage condition and maintain food quality, the influence of six biopolymers on the Tg of hairtail fish meat paste was investigated by differential scanning colorimetry. RESULTS: Samples were stored at -8 °C (>Tg ), -14 °C (Tg ) and -18 °C (<Tg ) for 105 days. The results showed that trehalose, maltodextrin and xanthan could obviously improve the Tg of the hairtail fish meat paste. Trehalose at 4.1% (w/w), maltodextrin at 5.0% and xanthan at 0.41% were determined as the optimum amounts, with the predicted value of Tg to be -14.1 °C. The total viable counts (TVC) and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) of samples stored at -14 and -18 °C were much lower and the gel strength and whiteness maintained much better than those of -8 °C. CONCLUSION: Addition of biopolymers could effectively restrain the increase in TVC and TVB-N, as well as the dropping of gel strength and whiteness of fish meat paste during storage. A mixture of the biopolymers could improve Tg and showed great potential in the preservation of hairtail meat products.