Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) represents a vast yet underutilized marine protein resource; however, its inherently weak and unstable gelation properties hinder its broad industrial application. The primary objective of this study was to systematically investigate how NaCl (1-3.5%, w/w) modulates protein aggregation and crosslinking during the thermal gelation of Antarctic krill surimi. Using Litopenaeus vannamei as a reference, a multi-scale analysis showed that 2.5% NaCl produced optimal gel texture (2.56 N for Antarctic krill; 25.84 N for Litopenaeus vannamei). Rheology revealed a three-stage gelation process with stronger elastic reinforcement in Litopenaeus vannamei. AFM analysis demonstrated that NaCl promoted protein aggregation during two-stage heating, with more pronounced aggregation observed in krill proteins. An aggregation efficiency of ∼0.85 yielded the best gel performance, underscoring that network formation benefits from progressive aggregation dynamics rather than runaway cluster growth. These findings provide a theoretical basis for enhancing the quality of krill-based foods.
Keywords: Antarctic krill; Gelation; Salt; Surimi; Thermal aggregation behavior.
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