Characterization of Six Types of Dried Sea Cucumber Product from Different Countries

Abstract

Keywords The character of six types of dried sea cucumber product and soaked sea cucumber sample in different countries, namely, Indonesia, Mexico, Australia and Japan (Hokkaido, Kansai and Aomori prefectures) was determined. Proximate composition, SDS-PAGE, amino acids and mineral contents, body size, physical properties and color of dried sea cucumber products and soaked sea cucumber samples were investigated. As a result, dried sea cucumbers contained 42.0-66.9% protein, 1.83-5.86% lipid, 8.62-37.3% ash, 12.2-18.4% moisture and 4.56-7.24% carbohydrate. SDS-PAGE showed that protein from dried sea cucumbers were gelatin, consisting of α chain (115 kDa) and β chain (200 kDa). The degradation of α chain and β chain of gelatin was observed from SDS-PAGE for all of soaked sea cucumber samples. All of dried sea cucumber products were abundant in glycine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid and proline, accounted for 57.6-63.3% in total amino acids and rich in magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium which accounted for 99.91%-99.98% in total mineral content. L*, a* and b* color values of six types of soaked sea cucumber sample ranged from 16.3-38.3, 0.30-4.58 and 2.78-8.54, respectively. The best texture (the highest springiness of 1.025); the highest weight (175 g), length (154 mm), body wall thickness (14.0 mm), height of spine (8.16 mm) and rehydration ratio (11.9) in soaked sea cucumber in Hokkaido product contribute to its best quality and highest commercial values.