Impacts of agar gum and fucoidan on gel properties of surimi products without phosphate

Abstract

Phosphate is widely used in surimi products to improve the gel properties. However, excess addition of phosphate occurs, which can harm the consumer's health. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of agar gum and fucoidan on maintaining the gel properties of surimi products instead of phosphate. Interestingly, our results showed that 0.125% of agar gum and fucoidan to replace phosphate could enhance water-holding capacity and maintain gel strength and textual properties of surimi products well. Especially at frozen storage for 1 year, 0.125% of agar gum reduced the expressible moisture content of surimi products by around 10% (p 0.50% increased the WHC, but significantly decreased gel strength and springiness of surimi products (p