Evaluation of Methods for Elimination of Residual Hydrogen Peroxide from Salted and Hydrogen Peroxide-treated Herring Roe Cakes by the Use of Catalase and Sulfite

Abstract

A partial amendment of the regulations for food additives in Japan has provided that hydrogen peroxide must be either decomposed or removed from final products (since October 1st, 1980). Accordingly, a method was sought to carry out hydrogen peroxide treatment of herring roe cakes without leaving residual hydrogen peroxide in the finished product.Raw herring cakes were immersed in 5 times their weight of 1% hydrogen peroxide solution for 48hrs, then they were taken out and pickled in common salt solution. The product contained around 4, 000ppm of hydrogen peroxide. Next, they were subjected to enzymic treatment by dipping them in catalase solution of 100μg/ml. A treatment period of 48hrs was enough to decompose all the residual hydrogen peroxide provided that the temperature of the enzyme solution was kept at not less than 15°C. The use of sulfite treatment after catalase processing in an attempt to reduce the processing time was not promising since a detectable amount (around 0.3-0.6ppm) of hydrogen peroxide remained unreduced even in the presence of free sulfite.