PROCESS FOR PRODUCING HIGHLY FRESH FROZEN TUNA MEAT AND HIGHLY FRESH FROZEN TUNA MEAT

摘要

It is intended to provide tuna meat showing a high freshness comparable to fresh raw tuna meat even in case of thawing after preserving over a long time. A process for producing highly fresh frozen tuna meat characterized by comprising selecting alive fish from among tuna fish immediately after catching; sacrificing and bleeding the alive fish; ceasing the vital reactions by grinding medulla and marrow; immediately removing bowel, gills, fins, tail, head and bones from the fish while sufficiently bleeding to thereby process the fish into dresses, loins, fillets or blocks; freezing the fish meat at an ultra-low temperature so as to lower the temperature of the whole meat to the eutectic point or lower (about -60°C) within 10 hours, preferably within 8 hours; and preserving the meat while maintaining at the eutectic point or lower. Highly fresh frozen tuna meat characterized in that the meat has been preserved at a center temperature of -50°C or lower so as to prevent the meat from denaturation and, after thawing, rigor mortis is induced.