Evaluating alginate and organic acids for restructured carp intended for zoo animal and human diets

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Silver carp, a fresh water fish, are considered an invasive species in the Midwestern U.S. having low economic value, but providing raw material for making value added products. The objective of this research was to make restructured whole silver carp patties with alginate as the cold set binder for zoo animal diets and to compare with the restructured silver carp fillets; to compare restructured silver carp fillets with the restructured catfish and restructured tilapia fillets for human diets; and to determine the effects of organic acids on the binding strength of the restructured fish product. The fish mince were mixed with the same amount of sodium alginate (3.6%), calcium carbonate (1.2%), and glucono delta lactone (2.0%) (T1), and then either encapsulated citric acid (1.0%) (T2) or encapsulated citric acid and encapsulated lactic acid (1.0%) (T3). A control without alginate binders was also prepared. The restructured carp were analyzed for texture, pH and water holding capacity by using standard methods. Statistical results showed that the texture of all the treatments are significantly different (P [less than] 0.05) from the control. Treatment T3 had significantly low pH with high binding strength when compared to control, which has significantly high pH with low binding strength (P [less than] 0.05). Restructured silver carp fillets have the same restructuring ability (p [less than] 0.05) as restructured catfish and tilapia fillets. When compared with the restructured silver carp fillets, restructured whole carp fillets had significantly higher texture values (P [less than] 0.05). Control has high water holding capacity (P [less than] 0.05) when compared to the treatments.