EFECTO DEL CALENTAMIENTO ÓHMICO SOBRE LA CINÉTICA DE DESHIDRATACIÓN OSMÓTICA Y PROPIEDADES DE CALIDAD DE SALMÓN ATLÁNTICO

Abstract

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is the main salmon species in marine aquaculture in Chile. Over the past 30 years, salmon exports from Chile have steadily increased. More recently, processed products such as smoked-salted salmon been in greater demand from the major import markets, including the United States, the European community and Japan. The aim of this research was to study the influence of ohmic treatment on the process of brine salting for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Salmon cylinders were salted by immersing them in brine solution with four different salt (NaCl) concentrations (6%, 15%, 18% and 24%). The brine salting process was conducted at 15?C for 24 h; the samples were treated with 5 V. The salt content, aw, water holding capacity (WHC), moisture content and physical parameters such as color and hardness were determined in the experiment, and the salt effective diffusion coefficient was also determined for all the experiments. The results show that ohmic treatment did not affect the kinetics of salting; therefore, there was no difference in the coefficient between the treatments. However, there was an increase in the salt concentration of the final product (20%) that underwent ohmic heating, an effect that is explained by electroporation. Quality characteristics differed as a result of the ohmic heating treatment, particularly for color compared with 6 and 18% brining and for texture compared with 15 and 24% brining. WHC was higher for the brine salting treatments except the 24% concentration, which had a lower value compared with the ohmic heating treatment.