Use of seaweed (Sargassum tenerrimum) extract as gel enhancer for lesser sardine (Sardinella brachiosoma) surimi

Snehal Subhash Shitole,Amjad Khansaheb Balange,Shardul Sham Gangan

doi:10.1186/s40071-013-0045-3

Snehal Subhash Shitole, Amjad Khansaheb Balange + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40071-013-0045-3

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Abstract

Surimi is a Japanese word for washed fish mince which can be used as a raw material for the preparation of various analogue products like shrimp, lobster, crab analogue, etc. which have a very good demand in the international market. Most of the lean fishes in tropical environment have good gel-forming ability, compared with fatty fishes but due to overexploitation of lean fishes its stock got depleted. However, fatty fish like lesser sardine have low gel-forming ability due to high fat content. Recently, plant phenolic compounds have been used successfully as protein cross-linkers. Therefore, an attempt has been made in the present investigation to extract phenolic compounds from seaweed which is abundantly available at the west coast of India and to use it as protein cross-linker in fatty fish, i.e. lesser sardine surimi. Water seaweed (Sargassum tenerrimum) extract (WSE) contained 16.24 mg tannin/g of dry seaweed powder. Effects of WSE at different levels (0.5–2.5 % of Surimi) on the properties of gels from lesser sardine (Sardinella brachiosoma) surimi were investigated in comparison with surimi gel without seaweed extract. Gels added with 2.0 % WSE had the increases in gel strength by 76.27 %, compared with the control (without addition of extracts). The lowered expressible moisture content was observed in surimi gels incorporated with 2 % WSE. Slight decreases in whiteness were observed with increasing seaweed extract concentration. Protein solubility % also indicates that, sample prepared with 2 % WSE have low solubility in 0.6 M KCL. There was no significant difference in the pH values of treated surimi gel and control surimi gel samples. Therefore, it may be concluded that the extract of seaweed can be used as gel enhancer in lesser sardine surimi with coincidental increase in texture likeness and had no negative effect on colour and odour likeness.

Highlights

In recent times, importance of total utilisation of fish landings, including under-utilised fish species as human food, has been realised because of the diminishing marine catch and increasing consumer interest in fish products
From results it was concluded that, with increasing quantity of seaweed powder, phenolic content in extract was increased. This was in agreement with earlier reports about total phenolic content in the seaweed extract prepared with 1.0 g seaweed powder (Zahra et al 2007)
The results revealed that lesser sardine surimi gel prepared with Water seaweed (Sargassum tenerrimum) extract (WSE) at the 2 % concentration had highest texture and overall acceptability score

Summary

Introduction

Importance of total utilisation of fish landings, including under-utilised fish species as human food, has been realised because of the diminishing marine catch and increasing consumer interest in fish products. To increase the gel strength of surimi, various food grade ingredients have been used. The addition of these ingredients poses adverse effect on the surimi gel, on off-flavour or offcolour development (Rawdkuen and Benjakul 2008). Protein additives have been widely used to enhance the gel strength of the surimi via inhibition of proteolysis caused by an endogenous proteinase (Benjakul et al 2004b). The interactions between phenolic compounds and proteins have been paid more attention in the processing of certain food products. Balange and Benjakul (2009a) reported a significant increase in the gel strength of Bigeye snapper surimi when commercial phenolic compounds in oxidised forms were added. Among all oxidised phenolic compounds used, oxidised tannic acid exhibited the highest gel strengthening effect, compared with oxidised ferulic acid, oxidised catechin and oxidised caffeic acid (Balange and Benjakul 2009a)

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