Effects of non-phosphate quality improver on the frozen denaturation of Argentine squid

We compared the effects of distilled water, phosphorous water retention agent and non-phosphate quality improver on the frozen quality of Argentina squid (Sepiaiuex argentinus)during the frozen storage in terms of immersion weight gain rate, free drip loss rate, pH, salt-soluble protein value, Ca2+-ATPase activity, TVB-N value and L* value. The results show that the weight gain rate of Argentina squid that treated with non-phosphate quality improver maintain well, achieving 26% to 35%, which equals to phosphorous group. However, non-phosphate quality improver can better reduce the free drip loss and cooking loss rate. Besides, in fish treated with non-phosphate quality improver, the decrement rate of squid salt-soluble protein and Ca2+-ATPase activity are respectively 6% and 5% lower than in the phosphorous group; and TVB-N values change slower, which are less than 0.30 mgg-1. There are few effects on the squid pH and L* values. The non-phosphate quality improver could protect the protein freeze denaturation, and functions better than phosphorous aquasorb during the frozen storage, thus is worthy of popularization and application in squid frozen processing.