Abstract
To study the effect of different freezing methods on the quality changes of cuttlefish during the frozen storage of cuttlefish, fresh cuttlefish was treated with six freezing methods (refrigerator direct-freezing, saline solution impregnation freezing, flat freezing, tunnel type continuous freezing, air-blast freezing and liquid nitrogen freezing) and then stored at −18 °C for 90 days. The time to pass the maximum ice crystal generation zone for the above six freezing methods in this experiment was 165.5, 67.5, 34.5, 21.8, 20.4 and 1.5 min, respectively. In this study, water retention (thawing loss rate, centrifugal loss rate, and cooking loss), pH, malondialdehyde content, TVB-N value, and sulfhydryl content were measured to evaluate the quality after thawing. Protein secondary structure was measured by attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), water migration was determined by low-field NMR, and muscle microstructure was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that among the six freezing methods, liquid nitrogen freezing took the shortest time to pass through the maximum ice crystal generation zone. And it had the highest water retention, the lowest TVB-N content, the highest sulfhydryl content and the least irregular curling of protein secondary structure after 90 days of frozen storage. However, liquid nitrogen freezing can cause cracks and breakage in cuttlefish due to cryogenic fracture caused by ultra-low temperature, which affects its sensory evaluation. Although the freezing speed of flat freezing is faster than refrigerator direct-freezing and saline solution impregnation freezing, the muscle is extruded and deformed during the freezing process, and the damage is more serious, and the frozen storage quality is the worst. The comprehensive analysis results showed that the freezing speed of air- blast freezing was faster and the quality of cuttlefish in the freezing process was better, which was the more recommended freezing method, and this study provided some theoretical basis for the selection of freezing method in the actual production of cuttlefish.
Highlights
The impurities on the surface of the fish were cleaned with flowing cooling water, weighed, and thermocouples were inserted into the center of the cuttlefish and packed in self-sealing bags for putting into refrigerator direct-freezing, 29.3% CaCl2 saline solution impregnation freezing, flat freezing, tunnel type continuous freezing, air-blast freezing and liquid nitrogen freezing. 34970A multi-channel thermocouples (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA, USA) were
It was found that comparing brine immersion freezing with freezing in a refrigerator, it was found that brine immersion freezing greatly reduced the total freezing time and the time to pass through the maximum ice crystal generation zone, because the thermal conductivity of CaCl2 was significantly better than that of air
The results indicate that different freezing methods have very different effects on cuttlefish muscle tissue, and liquid nitrogen flash freezing can slow down the deterioration of cuttlefish microstructure, probably because the fine regular ice crystals generated by liquid nitrogen flash freezing can protect the cell structure to some extent [29], which is consistent with what was previously
Summary
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of six different freezing methods on the quality of cuttlefish, and to explore the most suitable freezing method to maintain the quality of cuttlefish by evaluating the changes of physicochemical properties and microscopic results during the freezing process, and to provide theoretical reference and technical support for the preservation of cuttlefish
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