NANOSTRUCTURAL, TEXTURAL AND RHEOLOGICAL MODIFICATION OF FISH GELATIN USING POLYSACCHARIDES AND SALT TO MAKE FISH GELATIN A REPLACER OF MAMMALIAN GELATIN

Abstract

Mammalian gelatin originated from porcine and bovine sources are not suitable for consumption for religious people. Fish gelatin (FG) could be used as a potential mammalian gelatin replacer after improvement of physicochemical properties. Food ingredients including polysaccharides (low acyl gellan, κ-carrageenan, sodium alginate), sugar and salts were applied for improving the properties of FG towards mammalian gelatin including gel strength, texture profile, storage modulus (Gʹ) and melting temperature. Burgers model and Winter-Chambon law were successfully applied for the first time in modified FG system, to characterise creep-recovery response and gelling mechanism, respectively. Nanostructure and microstructure study revealed electrostatically driven association of FG and polysaccharides into complex coacervates while segregative interaction occurred at high concentration of polysaccharides or addition of calcium chloride. Schematic models were proposed and validated to elucidate the mechanisms behind FG modification, which could be extended to other protein-polysaccharide systems.