Effects of different washing and curing methods on the proximate composition, mineral, microbial and sensory properties of snail meat

The study was carried out using completely randomized design to determine the effect of different washing methods on the proximate composition, mineral, microbial characteristics and sensory properties of cured snail meat. The best washing agent was selected for further processing after washing with lime, alum, salt and ash through sensory evaluation. Snails from the best washing agents were divided into four portions to correspond to the following curing humectant which were used in cook-soak equilibration: salt alone, salt + glycerol, salt + potassium-sorbate and salt + potassium-sorbate + glycerol. The cured samples were analyzed for proximate composition, mineral, microbial characteristics and sensory properties. Results showed that lime-washed snail meat had the highest score for overall acceptability and had similar scores for color, odor, texture and proximate composition with samples washed with salt, alum and ash, and was selected for further processing. Curing with various humectants did not lead to significant differences (p > 0.05) in sensory characteristics except that samples cured with salt + glycerol + potassium-sorbate solution was judged to be tougher/harder and the color was neither liked nor disliked compared to others. Curing also reduced the moisture content due to osmotic dehydration but the protein, fat, ash, zinc, total pigment and pH increased due to the concentration effect. Samples cured with glycerol were higher in moisture content but lower in water activity. Therefore, lime-washed snail meat appears to be better than other methods but the different curing humectants used did not show significant difference (p > 0.05) on the physicochemical properties of cured snail meat.