Influence of collagen content on the texture andstorage quality of fish mince basedproducts

Objectives of the present study are to find out the proximate composition of 20 commercially important tropical fish species on the west coast of India. To determine the collagen content in these commercially important fish species and fractionation of collagen into acid soluble collagen (ASC) and hot water soluble (insoluble) collagen (ISC). To classify fishes according to its collagen content and To study the different storage characteristics in the mince based product—surimi, from different species of fishes. The researcher tries to find out a suitable collagen source to incorporate in surimi. and studies the different storage qualities in the mince based product, surimi at different levels of collagen in different species of fishes. The optimum collagen level to get desirable texture and storage quality for mince based product. The researcher aims to develop some products from surimi with desirable level of collagen. And compare the products prepared from surimi of lesser collagen content fish containing desirable level of collagen with surimi prepared with high collagen content fish without collagen. This study gains in importance as there is littleinformation on the collagen content of different species of fishes in India. So far no attempt was made to classify fishes according to its collagen content.

Studies on Minced Fish Technology

The quality of minced fish, as mentioned earlier depends largely on the type and quality of the raw material used, as well as on the processing methods employed. Moreover, fish mincing involves cutting up of tissues thereby increasing surface area to a great extent and releasing of enzymes and nutrients from the tissues. Due to these factors fish mince is relatively more prone to chemical. autolytic and microbial spoilage. Hence study of minced fish with these factors in focus is very important. Equally important is the availability, price and preference of the raw material vis-a-vis the end products and the storage period it passes through. In the present study. changes in the bacterial flora. both quantitative and qualitative of the dressed fish, viz. Nemipterus japonicas and mince from the same fish during freezing and frozen storage have been investigated in detail. The effect of a preservative. viz. . EZDTA on the bacteriological and shelf life characteristics of the minced fish has also been investigated. Attempts have also been made to develop various types of products from mince and to study their storage life.

Behaviour of mrigal (cirrihinus mrigala) meat components during the washing process in the preparation of surimi

To elucidate the effect of washing, on flesh components, mrigal flesh was washed through one, two and three washing cycles. Washing resulted in absorption of water (1-3%) and loss of fat (49%). 35% loss of soluble protein (SP) was noticed in the first washing itself and the loss is almost equally shared by the sarcoplasmic (18% of SP) and the myofibrillar proteins (17% of SP). The subsequent washings removed small portions of water-soluble sarcoplasmic proteins resulting in the concentration of myofibrillar proteins. 73% of the soluble protein was retained in the flesh after three washing cycles. The protein had undergone marginal conformational changes as reflected by the decrease in the actomyosin Ca super(2+) ATPase activity The rheological properties of the washed flesh were,however, significantly better than that of the unwashed mince