Yield and Gel Strength of Gelatin Extracted from Smoked Salmon (Salmo salar) Skins

ABSTRACT

The gelatin yield and gel strength of gelatin extracted from the skins of smoked salmon were determined. The skins had a crude protein content of 43.5 ± 1.2% and an estimated collagen content of 23.6 ± 1.0%. Following an alkali extraction process under varying extraction conditions, the protein content varied from 2.78% to 32.1%, and the gelatin yield ranged from 2.23% to 22.4% of the initial skin weight. The gelatin purity (gelatin/protein) ranged from 55.4% to 100%, with the highest Hyp/protein sample arbitrarily designated as being 100% pure, i.e., an assumption of pure gelatin. Statistical analysis showed that HCl concentration, pretreatment temperature, and extraction temperature significantly affected the protein yield and gelatin yield. The wide range of gel strengths indicates that the gelatin might have been hydrolyzed to different extents during the different extraction and cooling processes. Statistical analysis did not show that any of the factors studied affected the gel strength. However, the data indicated that low NaOH concentrations and HCl concentrations might not prevent hydrolysis during the extraction process. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE) showed that the gelatins contained α- and β-chains and that the gelatins composed of higher concentrations of larger molecular weight polypeptide chains had higher gel strengths.

KEYWORDS:

• Smoked salmon skins
• fish gelatin
• gelatin gels
• Atlantic salmon
• Salmo salar

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Dave Barbano for assisting with the determination of the protein content of the skins of the smoked salmon, Dr. Dennis Miller for the help with SDS–PAGE, and Dr. James Booth at the Cornell Statistical Counseling program for his help on the statistical analysis of the data. The authors also thank Dr. Steven Mulvaney for his comments on this manuscript. Acknowledgments are also given to Ms. Jihong Zhang and Ms. Shaowei Cui for their generous help with this project, and the staff at Acme Smoked Fish Corporation for providing the raw materials for this study.

Conflict of interest

The authors claim no conflict of interest.

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