MFR PAPER 998

Improving the Supply of Minced Blocks for the Fish Stick Trade: A Progress Report

BACKG ROUND

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become 11 IJILeJ. .1 hrll\\ n ,'r grd\ color . In ... II,h ,IICh. .Ill) -:1,1 r "Iher than l,hllL IS U uall) l:lln ... iJ-:r-:J .I~ a

ddect A marh.-:tpla-:e for li,h ,tic,"" m,IJ-:

from minced fte h hd~ alredJ\ heell

established. These IIc,"" are maJ" from minced fte h obtained Irom \­cut (fillel Inmmlng) I\hich JII nllt

conlaln Ilslble blood plgmellh The

) leld of edible meal from Ihl' ,ource is on l) about 2 percent of the carcas weight. [n contrast. fish frame conlaln about 20 percent machine-separable flesh (based on carcass welghl). These

F rederi ck J. King is a R esea rch C hemist, NMFS Atla nti c Fi h­ery Products Technolog) Ce nter, Emerson Ave., Gloucester, MA 01930.

FREDERICK J . KI G

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ONE SUGGESTION-DILUTE OR BLEND THE COLOR

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the Ir,lI11e ,InJ r.l Ihl 1111 lure

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lar II hlte lege lable Pfl)JllCI Thl' lllelhoJ ha., been U cd h~ J apane,e firms for elera l ) ear, In n1a ~ln g IraJI­tlona l product... .,uch as ~ alllabo h. o

(Tani ~ awa . 1971). II 'an be applied to occidental ,eafood produ c l ~ suc h a~

26

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ANOTHER SUGGESTION­WASH OUT THE COLOR

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TEST METHODS FOR WASHING SUGGESTION

Thi, ml,;lhLIJ 1)1 preparing minced I"h billch., IS ha,eJ )n Ihe 1l)lIll\l lI1g

,eLluence LIt' \leI' I Ren1l11 I.' heaJ, clnd \ " cera (I I

pre '>enll from fr.lme' l)r 1\ hole Ilsh .

2. Pass raw material through a meat­bone separator and was h the flesh while it is being separated.

3. Dewater the mi nced tlesh . 4 . Pa s dewatered flesh through a

st rai ner. 5. Prepare mi nced fis h bl ocks

from the stra ined materi al.

Several species have been used so far in these tests . Filleting leftovers (backbones or frames) ha ve included: cod (GlId ll S II/Or/ilia). tom cod (Micro­

glldll S lOl l/cod). cusk (Brosllle brosllle).

flounder. mixed (Pselldoplellrollecles

(Il11ericalilis. Lili/(/lida Jermgi ll ea.

H ippoglossoides plalessoides. a nd GIYPlOcep/wllls cY li oglosSII S). Headed and gutt ed species have included: whiting (Merlllccills bilillearis). ocean perch (Sebasles IIwrilllls). and herring (Clllpea /wrenglls). Fresh water spec ies (all headed a nd gutted) have included: carp (Cypril1l15 carpio). sucker (CalO~-1011111.1' cOI//Il/ersonni). sheepshead (Ap­

lodillOlilS gmlll1iens). and white a mur (Cteliop/wrYligodon idellm). With the exception of herri ng. th e ed i ble flesh of these species con ists mostl y of white muscle with a mall a mount of dark. latera l line muscle. Again. with th e exception of herrin g. we found th a t species differences were less important th an our proces ing and hand lin g vari­ables in influencing th e quality of our min ced blocks.

Heading and Gutting

Removal of heads and visce ra (i f th e fish were not gutted at sea) is presently done by hand labor. Using a band saw to cut off the heads has increased pro­ductivity but heading a nd guttin g equipment would be more sat isfacto ry. Such equipment is avai lable for certain species o r sizes and shapes. but th ere is a need for more versat il e head in g a nd guttin g equipme nt to match the ver a­tilit y a nd throughput of meat-bone separators.

Flesh Separation and Washing

Flesh can be re moved from sk in and bone in a variety of com merci all y

available meat-bone separa to rs. We are using a Bibun Mode l 15 sepa rator l

(Figure I ; see a lso Figures 2. 3. and .f).

This machine contains a wide fl ex ibl e belt th a t moves aga inst the outside of a rotating . perfo rated metal drum . The belt a nd drum move a t different speeds in th e same direction. Since these speeds a re di fferent. flesh is separa ted by a shearing acti on as well as th e mechanical pressure between belt a nd drum . The flesh passes through the holes of the drum whil e bones and skin are dumped off the end of the belt. Although we have used drums with 3 mm o r 5 mm holes . we sett led on a drum with 7 mm holes in most of our testi ng to increase the yie ld of recovered tlesh and to minimize fragmentation of bones In th e separator.

I The mention of commerCial Items does not constitute an endorsement by the Department of Commerce over other Items of a similar nature not mentioned .

Figure 1.-Modilied Bibun meat-bone separator showing washing device and perlorated screen lor dewatering minced Ilesh .

27

We have found that washing the flesh as it is being sepa rated from bones and sk in offers seve ral advan­tages. The most obvious o ne is that it leache a ignificant amount of blood before the blood clots and be­comes insoluble in water. Washing also hastens movement of flesh down the drum and out of the machine. O ri gina ll y. we used a garden hose with an adjustable nozzle and sprayed the water by hand into th e flesh-packed holes of the moving drum . More recently. we mounted adjustable nozzles on the separator itself to e li m­inate this requirement for hand labor. The amou nt of water used ha been in the order of 2 to 3 ti mes the weight of dewatered minced flesh obtained. This amount of water is con iderably less than the ratios of about 7 or more

to I used by Japanese t.:chnologl ~ t\ In v.a~hlng minced tle h to mdh.e unml

Although our purpo~e in \\d~h l ng

the minced tle~h \." a~ to r.:Juc.: c~)lor

b) remo\ mg bl )od plgment~. o ther soluble component~ were pre~umJbl\ leached out as \\ell The total amount of solids \\ashed out \\a~ e tlmated at 10 percent of the \\elght of the un­\\ashed mInced flesh The v.elght of the v.ashed fie h II elf \\as \ariabk. The capacity of mu\cle proteln\ tL) hold water IS v. ell h.nov. n. T h IS capa­cit) is affected b) partic le Size, amount of water used. intimacy of ml\lng a well as temperature, and time condi­tions.

Dewatering

Dewaterin g th e mi nced fles h is th e next step in th e process. We ha \ e put a perfo rated screen a roun d th e end o f th e drum in th e separato r. This screen has Vs -inch holes a nd is 3 feet long. M ost of th e wate r which was mixed with the min ced fl esh in the

Figure 3. - The Blbun stullner I' used . as des ired , to Improve the quality 01 dewatered and unwashed minced flesh obtamed from 8 separator

Figure 2.-Thll B bun •• perator I. being uaed to uparat. minced lIe.h Irom IllIet· Ing lellove" (11.h Ireme.) .hown at A The reco .... r.d minced lI.ah I. thown at B , the wute at C Thl. I. the machln. 01 Ftgure 1 Without the waahtng device and the dewatering Icreen .

Figure 4 .-Close-up view at elbun strslner to show separation of minced flesh from skin or bone fragments .

drum drops out during the first third of the minced flesh 's trave l down thi s screen . H ow much water to remove from th e minced flesh which drops off this sc reen and what equipment to use for this dewatering a re two problems for whi ch we have onl y parti al answe rs a t the prese nt time.

Removal of excess water is necessa ry from a technological as well as a con­sumer viewpoi nt. For exa mple, in th e manufacture of fish sticks, th e blocks from which these sticks a re cut should have less th an 5 percent "drip" (a measure of excess water). If th ese blocks have more than 5 percent excess water, s ticks made from th em tend to have too loose a coating of ba tte r­breading a nd a re a pt to "ex pl ode" dur­ing cooking.

On the oth e r hand , removal of too much moi sture fr om minced fl es h can accele ra te deterioration of th e flesh during frozen sto rage. The re la ti o n of moi sture content o r water acti vit y to rate of lipid oxi dati o n has been worked out in several model syste m st udi es as well as in various foods (review by Ka re l a nd Flink , 1973). The irreversible denaturati o n of fish muscle proteins, especia ll y the myofibr ill ar protein, during frozen sto rage has been studied from thi s and oth er aspects (reviews by Conne ll , 1968; Dyer, 1968). The rate of thi s denaturation o r loss of water ho ldin g capacity might be s lowed down by ho lding th e muscle protein under more favorable conditi o ns (King , 1966) . To reverse the loss of water-h o ldin g capacity by fish muscle protei ns, chemical cond i tions such as th e use of detergents or a highl y a lka ­line pH have been su ggested, but such conditions a re ge nera ll y unsuited to sto rin g edible fish muscle .

It may be difficult to stop a dewater­ing operation a t th e pro per time if one relies solely on a nalyses for moisture content. It is possible fo r o ne to devel­op a rapid, intuiti ve procedure with a bit of practice and fo ll ow-up analytical determinati ons. After several oppor­tunities for practicin g thi s art, I found that a sa mple of minced flesh should not form a puddl e of water in the open

palm of my hand , but this flesh should form a small puddle if I squeezed it ge ntl y . This subjective judgment had a surpri si ngly good corre lation with the ana lytical data obtained from the minced blocks produced from this washed flesh.

Apart from th e problem of how much to dewater the minced flesh after it leaves th e separator, we are a lso inves tigatin g dewatering equip­ment whi ch is feasib le o n a commer­cial scale. This equipment can be c lassified into three broad categories: screens, presses, and centrifuges .

On a pilot plant sca le, we found that nylon mesh bags ("laundry bags") were a sa ti sfactory type of screen for de­wa terin g. After several empirical tests, we sett led o n placing about thirty pounds of wet minced fl esh in a bag and hanging it o n a sup ' ort in a chill storage room (36 ° - .. +0 0 F). The bag \.\.as hun g for o ne hour or Icss, depending on the time needed to dewater the flesh.

On a commercial scale, the use of nylon mesh bags can introduce prob­lems such as slow throughput rate, hi gh space requirements, and laundr) expenses. With the cooperation of commercial processors, we are testing a Sweco vibrating screen for dewater­ing minced flesh. Several options are available with this equipment. Some of th ese options affect the throughput rate as well as the amount of dewater­ing of the washed minced flesh. For example , larger perforati ons I n a screen increase throughput rate (par­tially because more "fines" escape with the liquid), and a larger diameter sc reen all ows more time for de\.\.ater­ing the flesh. At present, we are using a single o. 20 screen (opening 8 .. +0 microns, 0.0331 inch) five feet in diameter in a Sweco unit. This mal not be the best combination for all applications, and for example, ""e are contemplati ng the use of a second Sweco unit to recover the "fines" that pass through the o. 20 screen with the\.\. ater.

Presses are commerciall) a\ ailable in a ""ide \ariet) of capacities and

29

pressures \\ hlch can bc applicu j,)r dewatering . We have u\CU a \implc c ider press on a pilot-plant calc \.\.ith essentiall) the \ame re\Ulh a\ obtaincu b, hanging a n) Ion Illc,l' bag of mi nced ftc~h to ucwatcr I L

We are still looking for a prc,\ with d commerciall) feaSible throughput anu with quite lo\.\. applied prc,~urc,

Centri fuges are also a\ ail ablc I n a wiue variety of equipment. Our IIlllial ex peri ments in ue\.\.ateri ng ml necu flesh ""ere based on a uomc,tle t) pc washing machine on a ,>pin-ur] c)cle The capacit) of this batch centnlugc \\as ob\ iousl) too sillall for commer­cial use , but ""e gaineu ~ome u,clul uata using it. Originall), it was capable l)f

generating a centrifugal force of about 70 pounds per pound of fle,h. Thl\ force tended to overdr) the mlnceu flesh so we geared it do\.\.n to pro\lue a centrifugal force of about 30 pounu\ per pound of flesh. This lo\.\.er force was an i mpro\ ement. but ml nccu blocks made from this dewatereu ftc\h had no urip at all.

On a commercial scale, centrifuge, offer advantages of complete reco\ er) of solids (including "fine ") anu con­tinuous operation. W e have u'>eu a DeLaval solid bo\.\.1 centrifuge to dewater minced fish after It hau been put through a strainer as well as the separator. B] usi ng centri fugal torce\ of 100 to 500 pounds per pounu of flesh , drip ""as reduced from 8 percent to 3 percent even though the mOl\ture content of these dewatered "nne," wa,> 85 percent .

Flesh Separation by Straining

It is possible to prepare mlnecu blocks from uewatered ftesh that hd\ not been put through a \tralner. The te:l.ture of such blocks IS at lea\t l.qual to to the te:l.ture of millced blo<.:k\ pre­pared from \ -cut H o\ve\er. the,>c block ma) not have a uniform appcar­ance. Th e) ma) have a few bloou elnh (not soluble III \vater), small piece ot kin or bell) membrane,>. Thl non­

uniformit) III appearanec md\ bc UI -advantageous In prepanng ti h tll.k

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Making Blocks

sual!) , \\e ha\e fr 'len the minced fte h to pre~ene It Our technique,

EVALUATION OF MINCED FISH BLOCKS

I he '-Iu.!lll\ ,'I ,lur mln.,;.:J hI." \\.t' e\ ailiall..d b\ 1\\,' "fl!anll.tII"11

the \ I I.., I n'p.:ell,'n .... \.. f\ I ' e .mel " Pfl\ ate I.,'n,ultlng labllrall\f\ , Bllth c\aluatilln \\ crc made In l,I"ll";C'tcf,

\I a"achu,ett" llf1 a Ifl'len , ample

30

Appearance and Color

Odor and Flavor

Texture

,and Ila\ [

Llch I

' le,lr \\hethL'[ rhL ' c ,Id Ldl\e h.1 cd 'n uhJ': '11\ I.: ('ornr,tr\ III \ \ IIh ,I 1\ pI.:al rL'gul.lr (lllIet) hll c 'r \\ IIh ,I t\ I'I('al nlln 'LJ ':l'J hll'" maJe 11,'111 \ --:lIt , \ Ith,'ugh Il " tural l\,tlU,ltl' n,

tend to be mo re subjecti ve th an tas te evalu ati o ns, it appea rs th at furth e r R&D wo rk is a ppro pri a te to ma ke th e tex tura l qu aliti es o f minced bl ocks more acce pta bl e to A meri can con­sumers.

Moisture and Drip

The moisture co ntent of minced fi sh bl ocks prepared fro m was hed fles h has been in th e o rde r of 75-85 pe rcent. F ro m th e results o f our sensory da ta , we suspect th a t th e fl avo r a nd tex ture of minced fi sh bl ocks mi ght be im ­proved if th ey have a mo isture cont ent in th e o rde r of 5-10 perce nt greate r th a n th e o ri gi nal fi sh muscl e . Love ( 1970) has rev iewed fac to rs whi ch affect th e mo isture content of fis h muscle itse lf.

Th e d rip bl ocks varied

cont ent of th e sa me fro m 0 to 10 pe rcen t.

U nlike moisture conte nt , drip is a meas u re of p ro tein qua lit y o r wate r­hold ing capacit y. We have prepa red good q uality minced blocks with 80-85 pe rcent moisture o n severa l occa­sio ns; however. we do no t have enough storage d a ta to in dica te th e suit abil ity of such mo isture contents on pro lo ngin g th e useful storage life of th ese minced bl ocks. O ur limi ted ex pe ri ence in storin g m inced blocks does ind icate tha t n'i nced fis h fles h has a greate r wate r hold in g capaci ty th a n intac t fis h muscle ini tia ll y, but th e minced fles h can be de hyd rated m o re eas il y by fl uct ua ti o ns in t ime-tem pe ra­ture sto rage cond iti ons as we ll as mo ist­ure permeable packaging.

Bacteriological Analysis

The lowest total ae robic pla te coun ts in our minced bl ocks we re in the o rde r of 103 to 104 per gra m . T hese cou nts were hi ghl y dependent on the fres h ­ness of th e raw mate ri a l. T hey were influenced by th e speed with which we processed this ma te ri al . T hey were low­ered o nl y sli ghtl y by washing the minced fl es h befo re freezin g it. W hen we used freshwa ter species, coli form and coagul ase pos i ti ve staphl ycoccus we re also estimated . T he result s (\'VIp

for Hinced F ish BlOCKS I:lspectiOn Report

Examined by:

Date:

~mined for:

Moisture

Drip. %

Net Weight

and angles Dimensions . f appearance)

luniform~ty 0 Degree of mince

Color

Odor

Cook flavor

Texture

General condition

parasites

Bones

scales

Blood spots

Dirt

Skin or belly membranes

Dehydration

Ice pockets

voidS

BacteriOlOgical Analy~: (370 - 48 hrs.)

TPC per gram

Figure 5.-lnspection report l or minced lish blocks .

per gram) did not indicate excessive con tamination.

Miscellaneous Materials

Under this headin g a re categorized such things as paras ites, bones. scales. blood spots. dirt. membranes. True paras ites suc h as codworms or Sphy­ri o n buttons were not found. presum­ably because our raw materia ls did not contain them . Occasionall y a curled piece of white bell y membrane was found which uperficiall y resembled a

31

codworm. Bo nes were not found partl) because we excluded bone chip~ le~s

than Is-inch long from our definition of bone. Scales and dirt (foreign mate ri a ls) were eliminated b) ~eparat­

in g ha ndling of the raw matenal from handlin g of the minced fle~h. Blood spots (clots), pieces of sh.in or bell) me mbrane and bone chip ""ere ~ome­times found in separated. but not strained. flesh due to the hole size of th e separator' drum (3. 5. or 7 mm) and the tension of belt agaJn~t drum These piece were removed b) putting

the eparated fie h through a strainer (I mm hole in its screen) and avoiding excessive back pressures while operat­ing the strai ner.

Physical Characteristics

Physical c haracteristics (d i me nsions and angles. dehydration. ice pockets. voids) relate to the techniq ues used to form and freeze a block. Our method of forming minced blocks by ha nd was satisfactory . but the extrudab ility of this minced fie h uggests th at a faster. more productive method could be developed for commerci a l use. De hy­dration was hard ly ever o bse rved because our blocks were usu a ll y not tored long enough for thi s character­

istic to develop.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Peopl e fr o m several firms worked

with us in o ne or more parts of this

stud y. let us u e their equipment or their expe rtise. They include Mr. Emi l Cefalo. orth Atlantic Fish Co., Boston. MA; Mr. Georges Yedie. Food Ma ters . Inc .. Boston . MA; Mr. Don Wilson. Sea-Pro. Inc .. Rockland , ME; Mr . Lee Harrington. Mass . Coastal Seafoods , Inc .. Gloucester. MA ; Mr. Daniel Tichon. Tichon Seafood Corp.,

ew Bedford . MA; M r. Charles Amory, L.D. Amory. Inc .. Hampton , V A ; Mr . Prescott H . Brown. Sweco Inc ., Acton, MA; Mr . James T. Costi­gan, Pennwalt Corp.. ew York. NY; Mr . Theodore W . Reed , Goodwin H ydrodynamics, Inc .. Weirs Beach,

H : Mr. Frank Kawana , Yamasa Enterprises, Inc ., Los Angeles , CA; Mr . Kazuo Kato and Mr. Ray Kato , Marutama Co .. Los Angeles. CA. We are also grateful for the assistance of Mr . Paul Earl. MFS, Gloucester, MA.

LITERATURE CITED

Connell. J . J. 1968. The effect of freezing and frozen storage on the proteins of fish muscle. III J. Hawthorne and E. J. Rolfe (editors). Low temperature biology of food stuffs. p. 333-358. Pergamon Press, Oxford, England.

Dyer, W. J . 1968. Deterioratio n and storage life of frozen fi h . I n J. Hawthorne and E. J. Rolfe (editors), Low temperature biology of food stuffs , p. 429-447. Perga­mon Pre s, Oxford, England.

Karel , M., and J . M. Flink. 1973. Influence of frozen sta te reactions on freeze dried foods. J . Agric . Food Chem. 21: 16-21.

King, F. J . 1966. Ultracentrifugal analysis of changes in the composition of myofibril­lar protein extracts obtained from fresh and frozen cod muscle . J. Food Sci. 31: 649-663 .

Love, R. M. 1970. The chemjcal biology of fishes. Academic Press. Lond ., 547 p.

Tanikawa, E. 1971. A. Japanese style fish meat pastes . In E. T anikawa, Marine products in J apan, p. 340-372. Koseish a­Koseikaku Co., Tokyo, Japan. 1971 b. Fish sausage and ham industry . 111 E. Tanikawa, Marine products in Japan, p. 373-421. Koseisha-Koseikaku Co., T okyo, Japan.

Teeny, F . M., and D. Miyauchi . 1972. Preparatio n and utili za tion of frozen blocks of minced black rockfish muscle. J . Milk Food Techno!. 35:414-417 .

MFR Paper 99B. The paper above is from Marine Fisheries Review , Vol 35, No . B. Reprints of this paper, in limited numbers , are available from DB3, Technical Information Division , Environmental Science Informa­tion Center, NOAA , Washington, DC 20235.

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