Use of HPLC and FTIR as a tool for analysis of lactic acid in restructured fish products

Lactic acid has been applied into various meat products to improve their functional properties. It has antimicrobial properties and can be used as a washing agent for meat products. It reduces the pH of the meat and slows the hydrolysis process. It also allows the gradual development of calcium bridging and the formation of a gel network with sodium alginate in restructured meat system. In this study, a HPLC method using an ion exchange column and a UV detector, and a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) method using a partial least squares (PLS) regression method were developed to quantitate the amount of lactic acid in restructured fish samples. The results showed that these methods can successfully determine the amount of lactic acid in fish products. Both of these methods are simple, fast and can be used by quality control in the food industry.