Effect of Drying Temperature on the Quality of Dry Surimi Powder from Pangasius

Demands for fish protein including dried fish protein to develop functional food are gradually growing in the world. Surimi, the concentrated myofibrillar protein extracted from fish flesh by washing minced meat, separated from bones, skin, and guts with added cryoprotectants such as sugar or alcohol (most commonly used cryoprotectant in the surimi industry is 1:1 mixture of sucrose and sorbitol at a concentration of 8%), finally stored in frozen condition in block form, is used as a raw material for preparation of number of value-added products. The dried form of surimi can be prepared from frozen surimi blocks by adopting different drying technologies and it offers many advantages such as ease of handling, lower distribution costs and more convenient storage. The present work is aimed to study the effect of drying temperature on the quality of dry surimi powder, prepared from Pangasius meat. A significantly higher (p<0.05) value of ash (1.83±0.47%) was recorded in surimi powder dried at 60°C than at 50°C and 70°C. The moisture content significantly (p<0.05) reduced at 60° (9.05±0.22%) and 70°C (9.55±0.51%) as compared to 50°C. The quality parameters such as TVB-N, PV, pH and TPC were all found to be well within the recommended level of acceptability except for the surimi powder dried at 50°C, wherein the TVBN (36.24±1.26 mg/100 g) crossed the limit of acceptability. Drying temperature was found to affect the colour of the surimi powder with the optimum acceptable colour score achieved at 60°C (6.38±0.52). At higher temperature of 70°C darkening was observed with consequent decrease in the colour scores (5.75±0.46). Therefore, the optimal temperature for drying of Pangasius surimi into its powdered form was achieved during its exposure at temperature of 60°C.