The effect of cryoprotectors on changes in the minced fish composition and properties during its refrigeration treatment

Abstract

Modern technologies of cryopreservation of biological raw materials provide for the use of cryoprotectors that act as regulators of the ice crystallization process and affect denaturation changes in the protein structures of bio-logical objects. For fish raw materials, the change of these two technological factors ensures the reversibility of the freezing process, i.e. the quality of the product after processing, as well as production losses during its implementation. Substances belonging to various classes of chemical compounds are used as cryoprotectors, but cryoprotectors traditionally used in cryopreservation - alcohols, oxides (DMSO) and carbohydrates – cannot be widely used in food production due to their toxicity and sweet taste. Therefore, the search for effective cryoprotectors intended for refrigeration technologies of food is an important task of scientific and industrial orientation. The aim of the work was to experimentally prove the feasibility of using food additives - cryoconcentrates of seafood – as cryoprotectors in the refrigeration technology of fish products. When realizing the purpose of the work, the tasks of studying changes in the composition and properties of minced fish during its refrigeration processing and assessing the quality and storage capacity of newly developed molded products with cryoprotectors were solved. Chilled pollock, which has a shelf life of no more than two days, was used as the main raw material for the production of minced fish and products based on it. A mixture of dry seafood concentrates “Mineralocorrecting” and dry concentrate of Pacific herring milk were used as natural cryoprotective substances. Sorbitol, table salt, pectin, glycerin were also used in the compositions of cryoprotective additives. It was found that the introduction of cryoprotective compositions into minced fish reduces the loss of tissue juice of minced fish by various technological operations of refrigeration processing by more than 2 times. Freezing and cold storage leads to a weakening of the structural and functional properties of minced fish. More pronounced negative changes in the initial properties of minced fish are noted in the control sample; in the minced meat containing the composite cryoprotectors developed by us, they manifest themselves to a much lesser extent. According to the sensory evaluation of minced fish samples, the quality during refrigeration is somewhat reduced to a greater extent in the control sample, to a lesser extent in samples containing cryoprotectors. It should be noted the high quality and storage capacity of new fish molded products with cryoprotective additives for 6 months.