The scanning electron micrographs of cooked white shrimps in
the longitudinal sections of the myofibril units (sarcomeres) with/
without treatment are illustrated in Fig. 3. As reported before, the
freeze-thawing process resulted in the shrinkage and drip loss of
the shrimp muscle fibers. Sodium chloride and phosphates have
been known to increase the swelling and the ability of the muscle
to hold and take up water and reducing fiber shrinkage and drip
loss (Hale & Waters, 1981). The swelling of the myofibril of the
samples treated with lysine, arginine, and STPP and the z-disks
were clearly presented while those of the control and NaCl alone
was compacted more tightly following with the sample treated
with glycine and proline. These microstructure were in coincident
with the increased water-holding capacity of shrimp muscle as
shown by lower cooking loss as shown in Table 1.