Surimi poultry

Knight, M.K., Choo, B.K., Crosland, A.R., Jolley, P.D. and Wood, J.M. (1989) Red meat and poultry surimi production. Leatherhead Food R.A. Project Y078IM060 report (Part ) ... 

Much research has been devoted to working out optimum parameters of producing different protein concentrates from fish and krill (Lanier, 1994). While the products have high nutritional value and many are tasteless and odorless, some, manufactured in denaturing conditions, lack the desired functional properties. A good example is the fish protein concentrate obtained by hot azeotropic isopropanol extraction. On the other hand, a concentrate of myofibrillar proteins known as surimi, produced mainly from fish and to a lesser extent from poultry and meat, is highly functional. 

There is a decrease in the consumption of red meat in response to concern about health effects of fat and cholesterol — which are implicated in coronary heart disease, hypertension, cancer, and obesity. Parallel to this is the increase in the use of poultry and fish. The dollar value of poultry in 1984 was 15.4 billion, an increase of 37% from 1983. Seafood per capita consumption was 13.6 pounds in 1984, an all-time high. The use of surimi, a restructured fish product, is on the rise and could reach a billion pounds in 1990. A simulated form of crab legs using surimi technology is gaining adherents. 

The successful development of the fish surimi process and increasing market share of surimi-based fish products throughout the world have led to studies aimed at applying the surimi process to red meat and poultry. The potential exists for the surimi process to be used to upgrade meat byproducts (e.g. MSM, trimmings and offals) for further processing. 

Knight et al. (1989) adapted the surimi process to upgrade mechanically separated meat (MSM). Initial work was carried out on the bench scale, and then the processing factors that influenced the final composition of the surimi were investigated. These studies showed that it was possible to separate fat from MSM by centrifugation, for beef, pork and poultry. Fat levels were reduced to below 5% for all three meats. 

---