High pressure processing pretreatment of Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) for quality attributes assessment

Abstract The present study evaluated high pressure processing (HPP) pretreatment effects on the quality attributes of Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis). Process parameters were optimized (300 MPa for 5 min) and the effects of HPP pretreatment on the total edible part of Eriocheir sinensis were investigated. The results showed that steamed loss has no significant difference and water holding capacity of inner meat was increased by approximately 51.33% with HPP pretreatment. HPP pretreatment can also decrease hardness value of crab carapace and preserve texture properties of crab leg meat. Compared with raw inner meat, results of DSC analysis of inner meat with HPP pretreatment has revealed that the denaturation temperature and the enthalpy of protein were decreased remarkably. The results of water distribution indicated that HPP pretreatment reduced the loss of entrapped water in inner meat. Finally, compare with the conventional steamed crabs, it has been detected that the aroma of the edible viscera of crabs has a significant difference with HPP pretreatment. Above findings indicated that HPP pretreatment retains quality attributes of Eriocheir sinensis well, in the meantime improves the processing efficiency since steaming time can be reduced by applying HPP pretreatment. Industrial relevance HPP is a novel non-thermal technique widely used in the field of food production. Compared with conventional thermal processing, it is important for assessing the impact of HPP pretreatment on the quality attributes of crab in order to obtain high-quality products. According to recent studies, HPP pretreatment has been confirmed to be able to improve the quality of hot processed crabs. By applying 300 MPa for 5 min on Eriocheir sinensis, the total edible part was improved, and the water holding capacity of crab inner flesh was increased. Moreover, HPP pretreatment can also decrease hardness value of crab carapace and preserve sensorial properties of crab leg meat. These results indicated HPP pretreatment retains high quality characteristics of Eriocheir sinensis and reduces steaming time by which means the processing efficiency can be improved. This work provided further support for the use of HPP in Eriocheir sinensis.