Self-Degradation of Sea Cucumber Body Wall Under 4C Storage Condition

Sea cucumbers treated by high pressure steam (HPSC) could degrade during storage at 4C. Texture profile analysis was explored, and it showed that after 160 days the hardness and chewiness decreased dramatically from 295.85 to 15.67 gf and from 227.08 to 9.18 gf2 s, respectively. The water activity significantly increased from 0.935 to 0.973, and the content of free water rose as the proportion of transverse relaxation time (T23) mounted from 0.810 to 0.901 after 45 days. In addition, T1-weighted and T2-weighted imaging confirmed that the distribution of immobilized water and free water in body wall underwent significant changes after 60 days. The collagen fibers fractured, free hydroxyproline and ammoniacal nitrogen levels increased significantly during storage. The present findings indicated that the degradation of HPSC was primarily caused by the destruction of body wall, which was related to the water distribution and the decline of quality. Practical Applications Sea cucumber has become an important food resource due to its high nutritional value. It is well known that sea cucumbers are easy to autolyze when taken out of sea water because of enzymes, microorganisms and several environmental factors. Therefore, it is difficult to preserve and transport sea cucumbers. Various drying methods were used to extend the quality and shelf life and that would bring nutrition loss and food safety problems. The enzymes and microorganisms were inactivated by high pressure steam sterilization, which could prolong shelf life and maintain quality of sea cucumbers. However, sea cucumbers treated by high pressure steam (HPSC) degraded after a period of storage time. This study aimed to study the degradation and the associated mechanism of HPSC during storage.