An attempt was made in this study to investigate the possibility of processing oyster and sea mussel into an intermediate moisture food. To obtain a palatable and instant product, shucked samples were heated in soy sauce for 5 min., heated in seasoning solution for 10 min., and then dried by the method of hot-air blowing for 4-6 hours at 40¡É. Optimum seasoning solutions consisted of 2% monosodium glutamate, 3.5% sodium chloride, 15% sorbitol, 2% propylene glycol, 5% glycine and 0.02% rosemary oleoresin in 72.48% water. Judging from water activity, thiobarbituric acid, viable cell count, volatile basic nitrogen, surface color and sensory evaluation, vacuum-packaging method in nylon/PE (20§/40§) or polyester/viniliden chloride/polypropylene (12§/15§/50§) film bag did hardly damage to the quality of intermediate moisture products, but air-packaging method in polyethylene(0.06m/m) bag did considerable damage to the quality during storage for 60 days in an incubator with 49-51% relative humidity at 30¡É.
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