Thermal stability, texture, liquid holding capacity and colour of smoked salmon on retail level

Retail samples of vacuum-packed sliced cold smoked salmon were investigated for changes in texture, colour and expressible moisture approximately 1 week before expiry date and on the best before date. For comparison, retail samples of gravelax were also investigated. To gather information on alteration in protein caused by processing and refrigerated storage, DSC measurements were performed at the same samples and furthermore on hot smoked salmon and frozen raw material, Salmo salar. Texture parameters varied markedly between the retail samples; however, almost no clear tendencies were observable with increased refrigerated storage time while expressible moisture raised. Colour also differed considerably between the samples. Gravelax behaved almost comparable to cold smoked salmon. DSC curves taken from cold smoked salmon and gravelax were almost comparable and demonstrated that muscle proteins being largely denatured by the influence of salt and cold smoking temperature compared to the raw material.