Toyo Institute of Food Technology, Kawanishi, Hyogo 666-0026, Japan
Grass prawn tissue is softened by retort sterilization. It was speculated that the cause of the softening was gelatinization of the collagen by the drip which flowed out of the shrimp during retort sterilization. By the pre-treatment of boiling in NaCl solution before retort sterilization, the moisture content in the shrimp decreased and the drip in the pouch decreased during retort sterilization. Moreover, setting up a headspace in the pouch prevented contact between shrimp muscles and the drip. The results showed that the texture was improved when gelatinization was suppressed.