Abstract:

In order to explore the effect of immersion chilling and freezing (ICF) on the quality of frozen food, the quality change of ICF-treated grass carp in multi-element aqueous solution composed of salt sodium, ethanol and glycol propylene at －40 ℃ were investigated and also compared with traditional air-blast freezing (－40 ℃, 6 m/s). Results indicated that the frozen rate of ICF exhibited 1.5-fold faster than that of air-blast freezing. The uptake amounts of sodium chloride, ethanol, and propylene glycol in grass carp were 0.14%, 0.17%, 0.63% and 0.94%, respectively. Compared with traditional air-blast freezing, ICF-treated samples had higher salt-soluble protein, less lipid oxidation, reduced drip loss and low moisture loss. Therefore, ICF exhibited more beneficial for maintaining texture properties and provided a better quality for grass carp during frozen storage.

Key words: immersion chilling and freezing, grass carp, frozen storage, quality.