The Frozen Sea Urchin Roe Technology and its Quality Evaluation

Abstract

Тhe living in the Far Eastern seas sea urchins are a source of roe, which has many healing properties. A number of nutritional supplements and drugs have been developed on the basis of sea urchin roe. Food products from sea urchin roe are not available on the Russian market due to its rapid deterioration during storage. The influence of primary processing on the quality of gray and black sea urchin caviar during freezer storage was studied. It has been established that short-term temperature treatment of fresh sea urchin caviar before freezing can reduce moisture loss and eliminate its fluidity, significantly reduce the activity of hydrolytic processes of lipids and proteins and preserve the organoleptic properties of products during frozen storage. The organoleptic properties and physicochemical parameters of sea urchin caviar corresponded to the original ones after storage at a temperature of minus 18 °C for 6 months and at a temperature of minus 25 °C for 12 months. The protein content in frozen sea urchin caviar was 13.8–13.9%, fat — 6.3-7.3%, carbohydrates — 2.1–3.5%, minerals — 2.1–2.3%. In caviar lipids, the amount of phospholipids was 25.5–27.1%, PUFAs — 35.3–39.73%, a third of which were fatty acids of the omega-3 family, which indicates a high value of the lipid profile of sea urchin caviar. Frozen sea urchin caviar is a source of phosphorus, sulfur, iron, iodine, selenium, as well as fat-soluble vitamins.