Electronic cooking end point determination and the effectiveness of alternative cooking methods for Crustacea

Funded Activity Summary

Questions often asked that can not be answered presently by the literature include:
- When should prawns be cooked in relation to time from harvest?
- Does this have an effect on visual appearance of the cooked prawn, eg. white head etc.?
- Is there a quality and yield difference in cooking in fresh vs salt water?
- Are cooking systems which currently use boiling followed by immersion in cold water the best option. Would a lower temperature cook for a longer period improve the process?
- What is the most effective compromise between sensory acceptability and optimal recovery?

Because prawns vary substantially in size and morphology, and the cooking equipment used by industry varies in power and capacity, at present, it is impossible to determine a time based standard that will optimise yield and quality and still remain broadly applicable.

Less powerful cookers will take much longer to return to the boil than high powered units. Thus the point of returning to the boil is a somewhat arbitrary starting point as slower cookers will expose prawns to cooking temperatures for much longer periods if using a standard time.

The industry needs a simple device which will tell processors when prawns and other crustacea are cooked. This device will measure the internal temperature during the cooking of prawns and will possibly use a cumulative cooking index or formula to determine when the prawns are appropriately cooked. This device would be based on research which determines the time / temperature relationship for enzyme deactivation as the basis for cooking calculations, and would be effective regardless of the type of cooker or maximum temperature during cooking.

Objectives:
1. To develop a device which will determine endpoint of cooking for crustacea by: a) developing a durable sensor for measuring the thermal centre of the crustacea. b) determining crustacean protease deactivation temperature curves.
2. To confirm that the endpoint for cooking is determined by protease deactivation by: a) confirmation trials of several species, sizes and cooking rates. b) determining the effects on possible melanosis development, sensory and textural quality and yields against a chosen reference such as farmed prawns.
3. Evaluate alternate cooking, processing and handling conditions for prawns.
4. Build 10 prototypes of the device for industry to trial.
5. Extend results to industry through workshops, publications and the media.
6. OPTIONAL: To further develop the cooking endpoint device for two other crustacean species with methods subject to the out-comes of the first two objectives.
7. Extend the results to industry through workshops, publications and the media.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 22-06-1998

End Date: 25-06-2004

Funding Scheme: Funding Scheme not available

Funding Amount: $309,017.62

Funder: Fisheries Research and Development Corporation

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

There are no FoR codes available for this funding activity

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Animal Health

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