Effect of Basic Amino Acid Pretreatment on the Quality of Canned Antarctic Krill

The present study sought to evaluate the effect of basic amino acid (L-arginine (Arg), L-lysine (Lys), and L-histidine (His)) pretreatment on the quality of canned Antarctic krill. Additionally, the changes in krill meat at different pretreatment conditions and processing stages were measured. The Lys-pretreated krill meat exhibited 39.9% lower hardness, 19.8% lower chewiness, and 47.2% lower thiobarbituric acid reaction substances (TBARS) compared to the control group. The low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analyses revealed that the Lys-pretreated krill meat showed a larger peak area of immobile water and a higher pseudo-color image brightness. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed that the microstructure of krill meat in the control group was broken and disordered, while the microstructural network of Lys-pretreated krill meat was more complete. This result indicated that Lys effectively improved the texture, water-holding capacity, and color of krill meat, protecting the microstructure and reducing the degree of oxidation. The sensory evaluation results showed that the Lys-treated canned Antarctic krill had a better flavor and texture than other canned products. Overall, Lys could be a potential regulatory strategy for effectively enhancing the quality of canned Antarctic krill.