LINEAR-PROGRAMMING AND RESPONSE-SURFACE METHODOLOGY TO OPTIMIZE SURIMI GEL TEXTURE

A formulation optimization study was conducted on surimi gels prepared with starch, and/or raw egg white employing the stepwise method (SM), linear programming (LP), and response surface methodology (RSM). At 78% moisture, the greatest gel strengthening and reduction of expressible moisture occurred at 8% starch, 6% egg white, or a combination of 5% starch and 5% egg white for SM, 5.33% starch and 4.33% egg white for LP, and 3.5% starch and 5% egg white for RSM. RSM resulted in gels with the greatest strength (compressive and penetration forces), followed by LP and SM. The RSM enabled more accurate prediction of textural behavior of final product at various ingredient combinations than the SM or LP.