Abstract
The thawing technique of frozen fish has a great effect upon the quality of thawed fish. Especially, the discoloration of red muscles in frozen skipjack and tunna is easy to occur during and after thawing.
Firstly, the present review describes about the overview of the previously reported studies related to the thawing conditions of frozen fish such as the quality before thawing, the thawing rate, the final thawing temperature and the thawing method. And then the optimum condition for minimizing the deterioration (freshness-lowering, discoloration) during thawing is discussed numerically to predict by using the kinetic parameters of the quality changes of frozen fish and the thawing curves in a skipjack. In this way, the hitherto recommended "Semi-thawing" (about -3°C~-5°C of final temperature) would be theoretically supported.
Finally the discussions are made on the problems of the storage of thawed fish, the heat transfer, the deterioration and the equipment concerning the thawing of frozen fish for a future development.
