1Life Science Research Center, Meijo University, Aichi, 468-8503, 2Faculty of Fisheries, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-0056, Japan
We investigated the effect on the quality of “Sirayaki” of eel flesh treated with compressed air. Live eels were treated with compressed air for 1 hour. Immediately after treatment, the eels were killed and the flesh was stored. The treated flesh maintained an ATP concentration of more than 5 μmol/g for 48 h of storage, and IMP concentrations reached a maximum of 5.6 μmol/g after 24 h of storage. pH remained at 7.2 for 30 h of storage. When the treated flesh was heated after 24 h of storage, its shape of “Sirayaki” and its taste were at their thickness of meat and were excellent to those of normal Sirayaki. Therefore, compressed air treatment can be used to prolong the storage time of eel flesh, and it could be used to prevent the decreases in flesh quality that occur during the factory processing of eel.