Department of Food Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Fisheries, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan
In order to prolong the pre-rigor period, live specimens of red sea bream and plaice were spiked at the brain and stored at 10°C and 5—10°C, respectively. Rigor mortis of cultured red sea bream developed more rapidly than of wild ones.
The rigor of scallop adductor muscle progressed most slowly at 5°C. It was most desirable that adductor muscle was washed in artificial seawater at 15°C for 20min to remove bacteria and not to accelerate rigor mortis. Packaging with 100% oxygen gas was a practical method to retain the quality of scallop adductor muscle. The browning of cooked scallop adductor muscle was responsible for the Maillard reaction between glucose-6-phosphate and fructose-6-phosphate, and taurine and alanine. To prevent the browning it was necessary to cook live scallop adductor muscle immediately after exuviation and to cook frozen adductor muscle in the frozen state without thawing.
Soaking in potassium chloride solution followed by storage at low temperatures induced the aggregation of melanosomes in the skin and was useful to maintain the vivid skin color of the cultured red sea bream.