Abstract: Normally cephalopod surimi produced by the conventional process has a weak gel-forming ability. Acid-induced protein gelation is an ideal alternative to heat-induced protein gelation. In this paper, four organic acid salts, sodium citrate, sodium succinate, sodium lactate and sodium acetate were used instead of sodium chloride to dissolve salt-soluble proteins from Dosidicus gigas surimi. The quality of sausages resulting from heat- and organic acid-induced gelation of the saltsoluble proteins was evaluated and compared. The results showed that organic acid-induced sausages had significantly higher values of breaking strength, water-holding capacity, hardness, resilience and chewiness than the heat-induced (P < 0.05). Noticeably, the whiteness of acid-induced sausages exceeded that of heat-induced sausages from some freshwater and marine fishes and Dosidicus gigas. Furthermore, no significant differences in the breaking distance, springiness or cohesiveness of the acid- and heat-induced sausages were found (P > 0.05). The sausages made with sodium succinate by each gelation method had the best sensory quality, and the sausages made with sodium lactate were the worst.

Key words: Dosidicus gigas, surimi, organic acid-induced gelation, heat-induced gelation, sausage