EFFECT OF SUPERCOOLING ON THE CUTTING OF FROZEN ATLANTIC SALMON (SALMO SALAR) FILLET

Supercooling is the process of lowering the temperature of a product below its initial freezing point without phase change. It is known that existence of supercooling state before freezing has significant influence on the structure of ice crystals. Automated cutting of salmon fillets is usually made in the partially frozen state. It would be expected that the partial freezing experiencing supercooling state improved the cutting process. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of supercooling before freezing (supercooling-freezing, abbreviated as SF) on the cutting of salmon fillet. The cutting test was conducted by using a texture analyzer. Samples were compressed to a 90 % strain with a knife probe. The maximum force was used for describing the cutting force. The microstructure was observed using light microscope. Our results showed that SF had influence on the microstructure and cutting force. The microstructure of SF sample showed less damaged cells than normal freezing. The cutting force for SF sample was lower than that for normally frozen salmon. In addition, there was no significant difference between the cutting forces for raw and SF samples.