LAUSR

BACKGROUND Changes in the physicochemical properties of shrimp meat treated with two-stage heating were investigated. Currently, shrimp products in the processing process is susceptible to dehydration uneven, shrimp meat shrinkage, which resulted in rough and hard texture, poor chewiness, and seriously affect its edible quality as well as economic benefits. Improving the utilization value of shrimp resources, expanding its market shares, optimizing the tenderness of shrimp is the key to develop new type of fresh and ready-to-eat shrimp products. RESULTS The results indicated that pre-heating at 30 °C could not affect the quality of shrimp meat significantly (p > 0.05). As the pre-heating temperature increased from 40 °C to 50 °C, the hardness and shear force of shrimp meat decreased due to the exposure of protein hydrophobic groups, protein aggregation and degradation, muscle fraction broken, and weight loss increased. Further increase in pre-heating temperature would lead to further aggregation and gelation of proteins, causing hardness and shear force increased. Besides, the results of microstructure showed that preheating at 40 °C and 50 °C could cause the shrimp muscles to become loose. CONCLUSION It showed that the pre-heating temperature ranging from 40°C to 50°C could effectively improve the tenderness of shrimp meat. This study might be useful for developing tenderized shrimp products in the future. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.