Abstract
Milkfish was used as a raw material to establish and obtain fundamental data about the gelation of meat paste and inactivation of actomyosin Ca-ATPase by means of high pressure-treatment. Suwari, a setting phenomenon at low temperature, occurred at 50°C, while modori, a disintegrating phenomenon at high temperature, occurred at 60-70°C. The suwari temperature of meat paste treated at 3, 000 atm for 1h decreased from 50 to 30°C. Excellent gel was obtained after pressurizingat 1, 000, 3, 000, and 5, 000 atm for 1h and subsequently heating at 90°C for 10min. Heat-induced suwari was improved and modori was inhibited after pressuring at 3, 000 atm for 1h. The activity of Ca-ATPase was almost lost by treating at 3, 000 atm for 5min. Different patterns in Ca-ATPase inactivationwere observed when actomyosin was treated by pressurizing, heating after pressurizing, or pressurizing combined heating. Liability to denaturation of the protein indicated that pressure treatment was applicable to milkfish processing.
