A NONLINEAR-PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUE TO DEVELOP LEAST-COST FORMULATIONS OF SURIMI PRODUCTS

Optimization programming techniques were applied to develop the least cost formulations for Pacific whiting surimi-based seafood (PWSBS). To develop the quality constraint functions, texture and color of whitin g surimi gels were determined by torsion test and colorimeter, respect ively. Whiting surimi gels were produced by heating at 90 C for 15 min with 2 % NaCl, five final moisture contents (74, 76, 78, 80, 82 %), a nd various combinations of beef plasma protein (0-2%), potato starch ( 0-8%), and two whey protein concentrates (0-8%). Due to the nonlinear constraint functions describing texture and color, a nonlinear program ming search technique was required to solve the least cost model for P WSBS. Results for representative target quality constraints are repone d in this study and show that whey protein concentrate both increases the texture properties and remains economically competitive with other ingredients which similarly influence functionality in PWSBS.