X-Message-Number: 27479
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 11:54:04 -0800 (PST)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: formaldehyde forms in frozen tissue

Message #27474 From: "Basie" <>
> Abstract  Proteins of fish muscle undergo chemical and physical changes
> during frozen storage which may result in, under certain conditions
> (i. e. long periods of storage, poor freezing practices, temperature
> fluctuations, etc), loss of quality, reflected mainly by an unacceptable
> texture as well as an undesirable flavour, odour and colour.
> In frozen gadoid fish species, most of these changes are caused by the
> production of formaldehyde in the muscle.
>
Thanks, I had not realized that formaldehyde was this important in the
functional deterioration of frozen tissue, stored at temperatures above
its glass transition point. It is interesting to note that an agent
such as maltodextrin, which is effective in raising glass transitions, is
also effective at suppressing formaldehyde production in frozen minced
fish tissue stored at -10 C. (J Agric Food Chem 2000 Nov; 48(11): 5256-62)

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