MINCE MEAT TECHNOLOGY AND DETAILS OF SURIMI PRODUCTION METHOD

MINCE
MEAT TECHNOLOGY AND DETAILS OF SURIMI PRODUCTION METHOD

Jitendra
Kumar
1*
M.F.Sc. (Fisheries Resources Management),
Neeraj
Pathak
2
M.F.Sc. (Fish Processing Technology), Saurabh
Dubey
1
M.F.Sc.
(Fisheries Microbiology)

1 College
of Fisheries, Mangalore, Karnataka

2
College
of Fisheries, Veraval, Gujarat

*Corresponding
author: [email protected]

INTRODUCTION

Surimi is a wet
frozen concentrate of myofibrillar protein of fish muscle (Lanier,
1986). It is deboned, washed and stabilized fish mince. Like many
other fishery products it originated in Japan.

Surimi and Surimi
based Kamaboko sea foods are traditional products of Japan and occupy
an important position in the dietary culture of that country. With
the introduction of a new generation of surimi-based seafood products
in the form of imitation shell fish analogs, its technology has
received worldwide recognition and traditional fish.

SURMI
PRODUCTION METHOD

Raw material
selection

The important
criteria in selection of fish for surimi are:

1) Low
cost

2) White meat

3) Non
oily

4) Abundantly available year round

5) Good
gelling ability

Process of Surimi
Production

Raw
material Receiving

Fresh fish whole,
received in insulated vehicle, is unloaded and taken into
raw-material receiving room through chute doors. Organoleptic
inspection and temperature check of the raw material is carried out
and if found unacceptable, is rejected back to the suppliers. Fish
is drained and weighed. Raw material is iced properly and if
necessary stored in the chill room (2 -5 °C) properly
iced.

Sorting
& Cleaning

Before
processing can begin, the fish must be sorted according to size. This
is done so that when the fish are processed by machine the processing
speed can be increased and the yield of fillets is raised. Sorting
can be performed automatically using either roller or caterpillar
type apparatus.

Heading
& Gutting

Mechanical fish meat
separators, developed by companies in Japan, Germany, aMechanical fish meat separator nd
the United States, are modern sanitary machines that remove virtually
all the flesh from the frame of a properly prepared fish. According
to Piggott, there are several methods to prepare fish for deboning.
One is to remove the head, gut, and thoroughly clean the belly walls
before deboning the carcass. The other is to fillet the fish and then
debone the fillet, which also contains skin and bone.

Washing

After heading,
gutting and washing, it is necessary to remove the blood and adherent
particles which make it suitable for deboning.

Deboning
& Mincing/ Meat Separator

De
skinned and deboned fillets give cleaner minced meat because blood,
membrane, and other contaminants have been removed. A beheaded and
gutted carcass, on the other hand, results in a higher final yield of
minced flesh, but the quality is relatively low. Another method is
skin on fillet (butterfly shape), which increases yield and keeps
quality loss to a minimum.

Washing

The most
important step of surimi processing to ensure maximum gelling, as
well as colorless and odorless surimi, is efficient washing. Many of
the problems with color, taste, and odor that develop in minced is
minimized or eliminated when washed.

The
number of washing cycles and the volumes of water varies with fish
species, freshness of fish, type of washing unit, and the desired
quality of the surimi. During a batch process, the water/mince ratio
varies from 5:1 to 10:1. In a commercial process, however, repeated
washing with continueous agitation is used to accelerate the removal
of water soluble substances. It is impossible to measure the exact
ratio in a continuous process.

Refining
machine

The
partially dewatering of mince from the last washing is refined to
remove any connective tissue, skin, scales or other undesirable
materials.

A typical refiner
consists of a cylindrical perforated screen with perforation
size of 1-3 mm and a screw shaped rotor. The washed mince is fed in
to the machine and soft meat emerges from the front part of the
refiner. Towards the near part of the refiner, the meat becomes
increasingly more tinged with brown shade, is harder and poor
quality. Hard materials such as connective tissue, skin, bones and
scales which can not escape through perforations are discharged
through the end of the refiner as reject.

Refining machine

Dewatering/
screw pressing

The moisture
content of refined mince is about 90%. In order to reduce moisture
content to about 80-84%, final dewatering is carried out in a Screw
press consisting of a rotary screw and cylindrical screen. The
diameter of the screw shaft is tapered or the pitch varies.
Generally, the hole diameter of the screen ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 mm
at the inlet and from 1.0 to 2.0 mm at outlet. It is also common to
use a 0.1- 0.3% salt mixture of NaCl and CaCl2 to
facilitate the removal of water from the screw press. Generally,
recovery after dewatering accounts for about 20% of the raw
materials.

Dewatering/ screw pressing machine

Mixing
with cryoprotectant

Tub Of SurimiThe
addition of cryoprotectant is important to ensure maximum
functionality of frozen surimi because freezing induces protein
denaturation and aggregation. Sucrose and sorbitol, alone or mixed at
~9% w/w to dewatered fish meat, serve as the primary cryoprotectant
in the manufacture of the surimi. In addition, a mixture (1:1) of
sodium tripolyphosphate and tetrasodium pyrophosphate at 0.2-0.3% is
commonly used as a synergist to the cryoprotective effectives of
carbohydrate additives.

Shaping
and packing

Blended
material is shaped into blocks of appropriate size and weight (say
10 kg.). Packed into polythene bags by automatic machines or by
other equipment.

RRapid freezing and packagingapid
freezing and packaging

Surimi blocks are
placed in a contact plate freezer and held for approximately 21/2
hrs or until the core temperature reaches -25°c. After inspection of
frozen surimi blocks with metal detector, two 10 kg frozen surimi
blocks are packed into a cardboard box. Drum freezing of surimi, on
the other hand, offers the prospect of rapid freezing, which enhances
surimi quality and results in frozen surimi chips, which is a more
convenient product form. However, drum freezing may not be preferred
by at-sea processors where storage space is limited.

Cold
storage

After freezing of
the surimi block, it is packed into cartons, which are immediately
shifted to cold storage which is maintained below -18°C
temperature. Generally, recovery after cold storage accounts for
about 24% of the raw materials.

SURIMI
BASED PRODUCT

1) Products with
smooth gel structure with no fibrous

KKamabokoamaboko

Kamaboko is
one of the oldest traditional paste fishery products of Japan.
Presently it is mostly made out of surimi. Kamaboko is essentially a
gel of myofibrillar proteins. Products are resilient and white in
appearance. Kamaboko is also known as fish cake. .

Flow chart of
kamaboko preparation

Chikuwa

CChikuwahikuwa
is made by moulding surimi ground with other ingredients around a
brass tube or a piece of bamboo & then moved inside the over as
boiling proceeds. Chikuwa has a hollow cylindrical shape. Good
chikuwa is white inside with a brown surface.

Hampen

SHampenurimi
is ground to fine paste along with Japanese yarn & other
ingredients called HAMPEN. HAMPEN is different from Kamaboko
(steamed) & Chikuwa (boiled) HAMPEN is processed by boiling. Good
HAMPEN has a soft spongy texture resulting from incorporation of air
during rapid kneading.

Fish
Ham

A
method of processing fish ham widely practiced is as follows: salt,
sugar, chemical flavorings, spices & a smoke flavoring are added
to the surimi and the mixture is allowed to cure for a day or two in
a cold atmosphere. The cured mass is mixed with additional quality of
surimi, starch and 50%
protein
and ground to a fine paste. The paste is sealed in a PVC casing and
is heated in water at 85-90°C for 40-60 minutes and frozen after
cooling. If the product is intended for marketing fresh it will be
steamed for four minutes at 120°C.

Microbiological
tests

Quality parameter of
the surimi my be divided under following three categories,

  1. Physical quality

  2. Chemical quality

  3. Biological
    quality

  1. Physical
    quality

Physical parameter
like pH, gel strength, etc… are important parameter to asses the
surimi quality.

(I) pH

For the measurement
of pH, add 90 or 190 ml of distilled water to 10g of test sample as
needed to disperse. Homogenize the mixture and then measure pH of the
suspension with glass electrode pH meter.

(II) Gel-strength

There are number of
methods used to asses the gel-strength and other rheological
properties of surimi. The most popularly used method for measurement
of gel-strength by folding test, teeth cutting and
using instrument like the Okada- gelometer.

Folding Test

Round slices of
kamaboko with 3 mm thickness and 10 mm diameter are cut from
kamaboko. The disks are folded into half between the thumb and
forefinger of one hand. Grades of the products are given according to
the observation as detailed as below.

Observation Grade Remarks

No crack after
folding twice AA Very good

No crack showing
after folding in half A Good

Cracks gradually
when folded in half B Fair

Cracks immediately
when folded in half C Poor

Breaks by finger
pressure D Very poor

Teeth cutting
test

The sample
for testing is prepared as for the folding test. The springiness of
the sample is felt by biting the slice between upper and lower
incisors and the scoring is made on hedonic scale.

Okada- Gelometer

The Okada-Gelometer
has become the standard instrumental method used in surimi
industries.

In this test, a
piece of surimi of about 25 mm thickness is placed under a plunger
with a round top (5 mm). When pressure is applied through the plunger
to the test piece, it gets gradually deformed and ultimately broken.
The recorded peak force (F) at break and the depth of penetration are
used describe the gel properties. Often these two values are
multiplied together to give the gel- strength.

(2) Chemical
quality

Protein
content

The proteins are
usually classified in to three categories on the basis of their
solubility characteristics; Sarcoplasmic protein, myofibrillar
protein and stroma protein. During the surimi processing removal of
sarcoplasmic protein by washing cycle, increases the concentration of
myofibrillar protein and thus enhances the gel-forming ability.
Ultimately the quality of surimi depends on the protein content. The
percentage of protein content of surimi is dependent on the species
of fish in which the surimi is prepared.

Fat content

Standard method for
the measurement of fat content, precisely weight 5-10g of test sample
with approximately the same quantity of anhydrous sodium sulphate and
a small amount of refined sea sand, put in a mortar. Mash the
material uniformly into dry powder and put it in a cylindrical filter
paper. Extract and determine the fat content according to soxhlet
method and calculate a value according to following formula:

Fat Content Formula

Moisture

The standard method
for moisture content determination is by AOAC, Oven Drying method.
Utilizing an over night (18 hrs) drying period at 100°C,
take 10gm of surimi sample and put into the oven and after 18 hrs
calculate the moisture content by following formula:

Moisture Content Determination Formula

MARKET
OF SURIMI

The total exports
of surimi from India was about 36000 mt worth US $55 million during
2004-2005. There has been a steady increase in the quantity of surimi
exported despite increased in plant consumption for manufacture of
analogues. One way to further expand the worldwide surimi consumption
is tap the markets in East Asia and South Asia, where surimi is used
in their traditional food such as fish balls. World market for surimi
based products comes from crabsticks and fish balls, where lower
grade of surimi are used. While the surimi based products were
earlier viewed as imitation seafood, there is a change of image.
These products are now being considered as fresh, ready to use items
available at an affordable price. Surimi seafood is now promoted as
suitable meals as a center of plate items, or mixed with salads.
Thinly sliced surimi seafood is also used like meat in sandwiches and
other quick meals. In recent times, however, due to economic reasons,
there has been a slump in the surimi market particularly in Japan.

SUMMARY

During Surimi
production all the steps are important especially washing and mixing
with cryoprotectant. Washing helps to remove the sarcoplasmic
protein, blood and fat, consequently, it enhances the gel forming
ability of surimi. But the loss of considerable quantities of
proteins and other nutrients during washing cannot be overlooked.
Mixing of surimi with cryoprotectant prevent the denaturation and
aggregation of protein during storage.

Looking to the
present situation of the marine capture fishery, the catch of
commercially important fishes like Shrimps, Lobsters, Pomfrets etc.
has been drastically reduced. But the catch of trash fishes or low
priced fishes has increased consequently, so the fish processing
industries have to slowly shift to the minced meat production rather
than the production of whole frozen fish for their profit
maximization.

Seafood — Fish — Crustacea

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