Abstract
This study was aimed to compare the biophysical properties of brown shrimp (Metapenaeus dobsonii) thawed using microwave in comparison with the conventional thawing methods. Time required for thawing was 2, 7 and 48 h for water, atmospheric air and refrigerated thawing respectively, compared to only 22, 15, 12, 9 and 6 min for microwave thawing at 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 kW power, respectively. Among conventional methods, least thawing loss was 20.13% observed for refrigerated thawing, followed by water and atmospheric air thawing whereas for microwave processed (0.4 kW) shrimp, it was better (18.3%). Indole and TVBN values of 0.4 kW microwave processed shrimp is comparable with the refrigerated thawed shrimp. Loss of NPN content ranged between 4.87 and 24.39% with least loss for 0.4 and 0.8 kW microwave power indicating least influence on the quality changes. Microwave thawing also improved chewiness and springiness of shrimps and sensory score ranged from 7.8 to 8.1, indicating its acceptability.