Elsevier

Journal of Food Engineering

Volume 82, Issue 2, September 2007, Pages 128-134
Journal of Food Engineering

Gelling properties and lipid oxidation of kamaboko gels from grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) influenced by chitosan

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2007.01.015Get rights and content

Abstract

Chitosan was applied to kamaboko gels made from grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus), and the correlative influences on gelling quality and lipid oxidation were evaluated by color, texture, expressible water, TBA (2-thiobarbituric acid) and peroxide values. Whiteness, hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, chewiness, adhesiveness, TBA value increased, while expressible water and peroxide value decreased when 1% chitosan was added in gels. Addition with 1% chitosan was considered as a promising approach in the processing of grass carp gels to improve thermal gelling properties and delay lipid oxidation.

Introduction

Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) is one of the main freshwater fish species in China. The potential of this fish as a source of low fat, high protein food has not yet been fully utilized due to the limited processing, distribution sphere and storage period. Surimi is a high quality myofibrillar protein concentrate that obtained from fish muscle, with high commercial value and extensive application in seafood production. Therefore, surimi processing is the effective way to utilize those fish species with low commercial value. Functional properties such as color and texture are the major factors responsible for the final acceptance of surimi-based products by consumers. When high quality surimi is the predominant component of a surimi-based product, the resulting texture tends to be rubbery (Lee, Wu, & Okada, 1992). Another restriction of surimi products is the oxidation of lipid. Fish lipids are well known to have a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) which have health promotion and cardiovascular effects. But they are fairly susceptible to oxidation, leading to a number of complex chemical changes that eventually give rise to the development of off-flavors, as well as the generation of harmful oxidation products (Fritsche and Johnston, 1988, Hsieh and Kinsella, 1989, Shahidi, 1998). To better suit the textural and healthy preferences of consumers, natural ingredients is commonly added to surimi, to improve the functional properties and inhibit lipid oxidation of surimi products (Lee et al., 1992, Lee et al., 1992).

Protein–carbohydrate interactions affects the functional properties in foods such as solubility, surface activity, conformational stability, gel forming ability, emulsifying and foaming properties, where proteins are the major ingredients, such as meat and fish processed products (Chin, Keeton, Longnecker, & Lamkey, 1998). Some biopolymers such as starch (Kim & Lee, 1987) and cellulose (Yoon & Lee, 1990) have been reported to contribute to surimi gel properties. Chitosan is a low-acetyl-substituted form of chitin, which has been reported to have a number of functional properties that make it technically and physiologically useful as a kind of dietary fibre (Shahidi et al., 1999, Jeon et al., 2002, Borderías et al., 2005). There have been a few studies describing addition of chitosan to tofu (Kim & Han, 2002), meat products (Jo et al., 2001, Lin and Chao, 2001, Sagoo et al., 2002) and fish muscle (Kataoka et al., 1998, Benjakul et al., 2000, Benjakul et al., 2003, Kamil et al., 2002). A number of studies (Kamil et al., 2002, Shahidi et al., 2002, Gómez-Guillén et al., 2005) report that chitosan inhibits lipid oxidation, and that this inhibition is dependent on concentration and type of chitosan (different viscosity or molecular weight). As a natural polysaccharide material with texturizing properties (Benjakul et al., 2003), antioxidant activity (Kamil et al., 2002, Lin and Chou, 2004, Kim and Thomas, 2007) and antibacterial properties (Chung, Wang, Chen, & Li, 2003), chitosan therefore appears to be a promising use in fish surimi products to improve gelling properties and prevent lipid oxidation.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of chitosan with different molecular weights and concentrations on the gelling properties and inhibition of lipid oxidation of kamaboko gels prepared from grass carp.

Section snippets

Surimi and chemicals

Fresh grass carp (C. idellus) was obtained from a fish market in Hangzhou, China. Fifty fresh fishes (ca. 50 kg) were washed and kept in ice until processing. Surimi was obtained after fishes were headed, gutted, and washed in cold water (below 10 °C), removing skin and bones. After dewatering with cheesecloth as filtering material, surimi was mixed with 8% sucrose as cryoprotectant, then packed into polyethylene bags (2 kg each), frozen at −70 °C in a ultra freezer (Forma Scientific R404A, USA)

Proximate composition of grass carp muscle

Proximate analysis showed that grass carp muscle contains 18.95 ± 0.53% total protein, 77.57 ± 0.37% moisture, 1.83 ± 0.12% total lipid, and 1.19 ± 0.09% ash. Grass carp muscle has a low lipid, intermediate protein, and high moisture content, similar to previous reports (Bakir, Melton, & Wilson, 1993).

Gel color

Color measurements of grass carp gels were shown in Table 2. Gels with chitosan exhibited higher L (80.08–83.68) than that of control (78.33) (P < 0.05). Significant differences of L values between gels

Conclusions

Chitosan could improve thermal gelling properties and prevent lipid oxidation of kamaboko gels from grass carp. Addition of chitosan improves gel color and texture with high whiteness and lightness, low yellowness, and high hardness and chewiness. When 1% chitosan is added, expressible water was significantly reduced. Chitosan of low molecular weight is more effective in preventing lipid oxidation than that of high molecular weight. Addition of 300 kDa chitosan or 10 kDa chitosan, at a level of

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