Effects of different pre-salting methods on protein aggregation during heavy salting of cod fillets

The use of injection and brining as the first step in heavy salting of cod increases weight yields of the products through both salting and rehydration, compared to other pre-salting methods, like brining only and pickling. This is interesting since salt content of the muscle exceeds 20% NaCl, in all procedures. Therefore, the dissimilarities in yield were presumed to depend on the degree of protein denaturation and aggregation as influenced by the different salting procedures. This hypothesis was studied and confirmed with the aid of SDS–PAGE and DSC-analysis. Higher water retention of injected products was explained by stronger salting-in effects on proteins during pre-salting, reducing aggregation of muscle proteins during the dry salting step. The degree of protein aggregation during salting increased in the following order with regard to the different pre-salting methods: injection and brining < brining < pickling. These effects were still observed after rehydration. Furthermore, differences in denaturation/aggregation were assigned to both myosin and collagen.