Abstract: In order to explore the effect of repeated freeze-thaw cycles on their quality, color parameters, cooking loss, water-holding capacity, shearing force and TBARS of frozen surimis of grass carp and common carp were determined during 4 repeated freeze-thaw cycles. More freeze-thaw cycles could result in a significant increase (P＜0.05) in cooking loss of grass carp and common carp surimi and a significant reduction (P＜0.05) in water-holding capacity but no significant difference between both fish species was observed. The shearing force of grass carp surimi was inversely proportional to the number of freeze-thaw cycles. The first freeze-thaw cycle caused denaturation and contraction of protein in common carp surimi and resulted in an increase in its shearing force, whereas the parameter declined with increasing number of freeze-thaw cycles. Repeated freeze-thaw cycles aggravated lipid oxidation in surimi from both fish species. As a result, significantly increased TBARS (P＜0.05) was observed and a significant difference  (P＜0.05) was also between both fish species. After the fourth freeze-thaw cycle, surimi from both carp species lost their original color.

Key words: freeze-thaw cycle, surimi, grass carp, common fish, properties