LINEAR-PROGRAMMING IN BLENDING VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF SURIMI SEAFOOD

Shear stress, shear strain, whiteness of surimi gels made with high an d low grades of Alaska pollock and Pacific whiting were investigated t o determine linearity of their relationships. A canonical form of leas t square linear model in mixture design showed a greater linearity (r( 2)=0.99) for blending high and low grade surimi lots. Due to linearity without interaction (p<0.001), a least cost linear program provided o ptimum blending for surimi lots based on value, constraints, and decis ion variables. Linear programming to determine optimum formulation of surimi with starches and water content was not feasible due to interac tions between surimi and starch, or starch and water.