CHAPTER 4.

SURIMI AND
FISH PROTEIN
ISOLATE/
CONCENTRATE

 NE41402 – MARINE AND AQUACULTURE PRODUCTS

SURIMI DEFINITION
 Wet concentrate of the protein of fish muscle,
that is mechanically deboned, water-washed
and mixed with cryoprotectants to retain
functional properties of fish protein during
frozen storage.
 Four main step during surimi manufacturing
process; meat separation, washing,
cryoprotectant adding and freezing step.
 There is no different on the principal
processing technique between on shore-based
and factory ship plants.
RAW MATERIAL

 Underutilized and less utilized fish species can

be used successfully as raw materials.
 Abundance resources which permit mass
production with consistence quality.
 Showing higher functional properties (gel-
forming ability).
 White-flesh fish,

 Subtle flavor and odor.

 Dark-flesh fish (slightly different processing

step).
FISH SPECIES:

 Alaska Pollock
 Threadfin bream (Itoyori surimi)

 New Zealand Hoki

 Southern/Northern Blue Whiting

 Croaker/Japanese white croaker

 Bigeye snapper (Kinmedai - kintokidai

surimi)
 Lizardfish (Eso Surimi)

 Ribbon fish/Hairtail (Tachi-U-O Surimi)

 Goat fish (Hemeji surimi)

FRESHNESS OF RAW MATERIAL
 Freshness is the most important
requirement for the raw material to be
processed into surimi, regardless the
species.
 High quality surimi cannot be manufactured
from insufficiently fresh fish with even the
best available technology.
 As a general rule, factory trawlers have
access to produce higher quality of surimi
than factory mother-ships or land-based
plants.
SURIMI PROCESSING
Fish
✓ Mechanical deboned
Minced Fish
✓ Washing, Straining and Dewatering
Raw Surimi
✓ Mixing with Cryoprotectants and Freezing
Frozen Surimi
✓ Salt, other Ingredients and heat processing
Surimi-Based Product
(ready to eat product)
SORTING AND CLEANING
 Before processing can begin, the target
fish species must be separated from other
marine species taken in the haul.
 The usual method of separating is done by
manually as the catch is being transferred
on a conveyor belt from initial receiving
bin to the storage bin.
 The fish also must be sorted according to
size using a roller or caterpillar type
apparatus ( to increase the speed and the
yield of the fillet).
MECHANICAL SEPARATION OF MEAT
 The eviscerated fish (small size) or fillet
(big size) are transported to the meat
separator by a conveyor belt.
 The deboning operation separates the fish
flesh from any bones, fin or skin with
remain at this point.
 The meat separators used a belt-drum
type, in which the fish pass between a belt
and a perforated drum, the belt held tight
to the drum by a pressure roller, the fish
flesh is forced through the holes to the
inside of the drum.
 The diameter of the holes chosen greatly
influences the subsequent leaching and
dewatering processes as well as the yield
and quality of the surimi.
 Ordinarily, the hole diameter used ranges
from 4 to 7 mm and is chosen in
accordance with the size and freshness of
the fish.
 With skin-on fish, the meat side should
face the drum so that skin does not form a
barrier to the meat moving into annual
space.
WASHING OR LEACHING
 The purpose of leaching is the removal
from the minced meat of water-soluble
matter, lipid and blood to improve the
color and flavor as well as to increase the
gel strength of the surimi.
 The rate of this undesirable solubles are
leached from the minced meat is a
function of several factors, including the
water quality, water temperature, the
degree of agitation and the contact time
between water and meat particles.
 The temperature of the fresh water used
in leaching should be preferably be in the
range from 3 to 10 oC, beyond this
temperature, myofibrillar protein loses its
gel forming ability.
 Each fish species has its own
thermostability, which is related to
physiological adaptation to its living
environment.
 The low water temperature also to reduce
microbial proliferation.
 The number of washing cycles required
depends upon the type, composition, and
freshness of the fish to be processed.
 Generally the amount of proteins
extracted increase markedly with washing
time extended up to 9 – 12 minutes.
 Five minutes agitation in each washing
cycle for two washing cycles with water-
to-meat ratio 3:1 is consider adequate.
 Commercial operation for the entire
leaching process is usually 15 – 20
minutes.
REFINING
 At this stage, the leached meat is refined
to remove any connective tissue, skin,
scale, or other undesirable inclusion.
 The soft leached meat is fed to the refiner
machine and selectively forced through
the perforations (2-3 mm) under the
compressive force generated by the rotor.
 Only hard materials such as connective
tissue, skin, scale and bones, which
cannot pass through the perforations, are
discharged through the end of the refiner
as reject.
FINAL DEWATERING
 Final dewatering is conventionally
accomplished by a screw press, whereas
the material exiting from refiner contains
about 90% moisture is reduced to about 80
% moisture.
 The screw press consist of a rotating crew
and a cylindrical screen (with hole
diameter ranges from 0.5 – 1.0 mm), the
larger the holes the greater the
dewatering power, but the likelihood of
fish meat escaping with the water also
increases.
BLENDING
 Protein Molecules Changes during Frozen
Storage: Aggregation and Trans-conformation
(unfolding) of protein molecules.
 Blending refers to the process of adding and
mixing of cryoprotective agents such as sugar,
sorbitol and phosphates, in order to stabilize
the fish proteins from freeze denaturation
during frozen storage.
 These cryoprotective agents must be uniformly
dispersed and dissolved before the meat is
frozen, there fore an appropriate blending
apparatus is required.
FILLING
 After blending, 10-kg blocks of surimi are
packed into polyethylene bags and placed
in freezing pans.
 A filling and packaging automatic
machines systems has been practical use,
extrudes 10 kg blocks of fish paste with a
precision of ±0.1 kg.
 Surimi thus extruded as blocks and filled
into pans is usually frozen with a contact
plate freezer to obtain a block center
temperature of -15 oC or below.
FREEZING PROCESS
 The role of freezer is to extract heat from
a stream of products, converting most of
the free moisture to a solid.
 This extraction must be sufficient rapid so
the products will experience minimum
quality degradation, the rate keep s pace
with the production schedule, and the
average products temperature upon exit
roughly matches the subsequent storage
temperature.
 Three types of freezing process; contact,
airflow, brine and cryogenic freezers.
STORING
 After completion of freezing, two surimi
blocks are packaged in each corrugated
cardboard carton and preferably stored at
temperature -25 oC or below.
 The quality of fish protein in surimi is not
significantly different after one year of
storage at temperature -25 oC or below.
 The quality of fish protein in minced meat
is significantly decrease after 3 month of
storage at temperature -25 oC or below.
SURIMI QUALITY: FOLDING TEST
 The folding test is conducted by folding a
5-mm thick slice of gel slowly in half and
in half again while examining it for signs
of structural failure (crack).
 Keep the folded state for five sec, then
evaluate the change in the shape by 5-
stage merit marks.
 Test three or more slice pieces of the same
inspection sample, apply constant power
throughout the folding surface.
 Point 5 or AA grade for no crack occurs
even if folded in four
 Point 4 or A grade for no crack occurs if
folded in two, but a crack(s) occur(s) if
folded in four.
 Point 3 or B grade for no crack occurs if
folded in two, but splits if folded in four.
 Point 2 or C grade for crack immediately
if folded in two.
 Point 1 or D grade for split into two if
folded in two.
SURIMI SEAFOOD
 Analog products
 Imitation products
 Surimi seafood
 Developed in crabmeat, shrimp and
lobster styles.
 Using continuous automatic machinery
systems.
FISH BALL
 Fish ball is the most popular surimi-based
product in Southeast Asia.
 Fish balls found in Singapore and
Malaysia are typically whiter in color and
more elastic, while those sold in the
Philippines and Hong Kong have a firm
texture (less elastic), darker color and
stronger fishy note.
Surimi
Seafood:
• Kamaboko
• Satsuma-
age (Fried
kamaboko)
• Hampen
• Chikuwa
• Fish ball
• Fish stick
• Fish flake
• Fish chunk
• Fish combo
• Analog
Thank You