The Evolution of Surimi Technology: From Traditional Methods to Modern Innovations

An Overview of Surimi Technology

There are several step-by-step processes to refine fish myofibrillar proteins, also known as surimi. Starting with heading, gutting, and filleting, the fish will be beheaded and gutted to prevent any bacterial contamination in the fish.

After that, the fish are prepared for deboning, which commonly uses a roller-type meat separation process that sorts the meat from the skin, bones, cartilage, and other unwanted parts.

Then washing and dewatering, where water-soluble proteins will be removed, will concentrate the myofibrillar proteins, enhancing the functional properties of surimi.

Next is refining, which gets rid of impurities like skin, pin bones, scales, and connective tissues. Then, cryoprotectants are added to keep the surimi stable and make sure it works at its best when it's frozen.

The final step is freezing the processed surimi, which is typically formed into standard 10 kg blocks and extruded into plastic bags.

The History and Traditional Methods of Surimi

Surimi originally came from Japan in 1115, which was the Heian period. Surimi-based foods invented in the past 900 years were also going through lots of exploration.

Fun fact: Kamaboko was made from the flower portion of the cattail plant. But later, the production of kamaboko in Japan expanded by using surimi with local fish as its raw material, which then often refers to all surimi seafood throughout the country.

There are four basic forms of traditional surimi seafood in Japan, which are kamaboko, satsuma-age or tempura, chikuwa, and hanpen. Historically, heading and gutting the fish was the first step in manually preparing nearly all ancient surimi-based foods. After that, the fish underwent washing and cheesecloth dewatering procedures.

The processes of surimi back then didn’t include cryoprotectants since it was discovered in 1960, when it was proven that frozen surimi prepared with cryoprotectants was an effective way to extend the gel properties of surimi, impacting the surimi industry significantly in the 1960s.

Surimi Production Before 1960

The surimi production before 1960 used raw materials such as croaker, yellow croaker, lizardfish, and Eastern China Sea conger eel.

During this period, local fish species were also used for surimi production. However, the fish resources decreased over time, and surimi producers needed to find new resources for production.

Raw Alaska pollock, known as Suketodara in Japanese, was also used as the raw material in the Northeast of Japan. In 1945–1950, the catch of Alaska pollock was the biggest in Hokkaido, producing taroko, a salted pollock roe.

In 1950, researchers explored how to use pollock effectively after removing the roe, which became a great challenge for the surimi industry. 

Nishiya established and oversaw a research team at the Hokkaido Fisheries Research Station to look into ways to produce surimi and kamaboko using pollock as the raw material. Various research programs were also launched to investigate fish proteins and how to use them in surimi-based products.

Later, it was found that the process of freezing could significantly remove the pollock muscle, making the texture more likely to sponge.

Nishiya’s team then found a way out of this problem with the addition of salt for the pollock surimi prepared, then went into frozen and cooked kamaboko. The kamaboko would then have an acceptable texture.

However, soon after that, it was revealed that adding salt before freezing would hurt the product quality because of denaturation. Therefore, researchers and surimi producers became more focused on inhibiting frozen denaturation for pollock surimi.

Discovery of Cryoprotectants

Nishiya's team carried out this investigation between 1959 and 1960, and they discovered cytoprotectants.

They found a way to prevent freeze protein denaturation in Alaska pollock muscle by adding low molecular weight carbohydrates, including sucrose and sorbitol, to the dewatered myofibrillar proteins before the freezing process.

Adding carbohydrates aims to stabilize the actomyosin because it gets highly unstable during the freezing process.

The discovery soon revolutionized surimi production across the world with its effective impact on maintaining the surimi protein as well as extending surimi gel properties. This positively led the surimi industry in Japan to expand in the 1960s and had its peak era in 1973–1976.

The Evolution of Surimi Seafood Products

In the 1970s, the surimi industry had already started innovation in surimi seafood products. The fact that Mr. Sugino of Sugiyo Co. created the crabstick in 1973 with a flake type is evidence of this. Later in 1975, crabstick was produced in a new form, the stick type, by Mr. Osaki of Osaki Suisan.

This invention led the surimi industry in Japan to expand its market globally, with crabsticks becoming the bridge for Japan to connect with other countries such as South Korea, the United States, Europe, South America, Southeast Asia, and China.

The high demand for crabstick around the world, which results in the use of 20%–25% of surimi worldwide exclusively for crabstick production, attests to its unique invention's superior quality.

In today's era, the surimi industry keeps improving with other surimi seafood products such as fish balls, fish sausage, and more.

Conclusion

The evolution of surimi shows a remarkable journey, from traditional methods to unique and modern innovations. Originating in Japan in 1115, surimi has been going through significant transformations not only in production processes but also in product evolution.

The manual methods used in the surimi industry have also been replaced with modern and advanced techniques. These modern techniques involve cryoprotectants and new technologies.

The discovery of cryoprotectants in the 1960s was a brilliant solution to keep fish proteins stable during the freezing process. This breakthrough positively made surimi production more effective and led to innovations for surimi seafood products, such as crabstick, which became famous in the 1970s.

After that, the surimi industry keeps improving and finding more innovations in surimi-based products, such as fish balls and fish sausages, raising the demand for surimi and surimi seafood products across the world.

In today’s era, surimi contributes actively to the culinary industry as a healthy seafood option as well as being the bridge for markets worldwide.