Effect of Trehalose on the State of Water, Protein Denaturation and Gel-Forming Ability of Weever Surimi

The freshness and gel-forming ability of surimi decreased during frozen storage, while trehalose inhibits biological damage at low temperatures and stabilizing protein structures during freezing and freeze-drying. This study investigated the effect of trehalose at different concentrations (2.5-10 g/100 g wet materials) on the state of water, protein denaturation, and gel-forming ability of weever surimi during frozen storage at -18 degrees C for 90 days. The addition of trehalose increased the unfrozen water amount, regardless of level of addition differences, resulting decreased inactivation rate of calcium-adenylpyrophosphatase, and increased gel-breaking force and gel deformation of weever surimi throughout the frozen storage. Therefore, the addition of trehalose increased the gel-forming ability of weever surimi.