Title: Studies on development of highly nutritional fish meat for food stuff-V. Effect of freshness of sardine on the quality of highly nutritional fish meat for food stuff.
Abstract: A food stuff tentatively named highly nutritional fish meat for food stuff (HNFM) was prepared from round sardine stored for 5 days at 2°C by the method previously described, and the changes in several properties were investigated. The quantity of volatile com-pounds (VC) arisen from the minced meat increased during the storage of the round sardine, but that from HNFM hardly changed. HNFM prepared from the stored sardine gave off little undesirable odor. The gel-forming ability and myofibrillar Ca-ATPase activity of HNFM rapidly decreased during the storage of the round fish even at a low temperature as raw material. On the contrary, Ca-ATPase activity of dewatered-ground meat was kept at a high level during the storage, and the deterioration of gel forming ability was remarkably suppressed. For the purpose of manufacturing the HNFM of high quality, it is essentially important to prepare it from the fresh fish as rapidly as possible and to freeze it with the addition of cryoprotectants.