The objective of this study was to determine the factors responsible for the changed physiochemical properties of unpeeled shrimp treated in cold phosphate solution (2~4°C) with the intervention of 4 factors: phosphate concentration, dipping time, rotation speed, and volume of brine solution. Response surface analysis was used to characterize the effect of the phosphate treatment on shrimps by running 33 treatments for optimizing the experiment. For each treatment, phosphate amount, moisture content, and weight gain were measured. The results showed that phosphate concentration is the most important factor than other factors for facilitating phosphate penetration in the meat of the shrimp and for getting the best result. The optimum condition of phosphate-treated shrimp in this study was 110 to 120 min dipping time, 500 to 550 mL brine solution for 100 g shrimp sample, and 190 to 210 rpm agitation speed. The studied conditions can be applied in fisheries and other food industries for good phosphate treatments.
Keywords: phosphate; response surface methodology; shrimp.