Abstract
Freeze-thawing process gives significant damages for food structure. Several new techniques have been attempted for quantitative evaluation of the damages. In this study, using NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) with a stimulated echo method, restricted diffusion phenomena of water molecules was measured for damaged food (onion and tuna) tissues that were subjected to the repeat of freeze-thawing, Through experiments, water permeability of tissue membrane was calculated. The water permeability of fresh tissues for onion showed clearly restricted diffusion, but after freeze-thawing, it disappeared. On the other hand, the water permeability of fresh tuna tissue was small significantly, even though it was a little higher after freeze-thawing. After all, the damage level after freeze-thawing showed a significant difference between onion and tuna. These results support the view that plant tissue is very sensitive to freeze-thawing and that the water permeability of plant is much lower than that of animal.
