A joint research group of Associate Professor Takao Namihira of Kumamoto University Institute of Industrial Nanomaterials and Japan Sea Foods Co., Ltd. kills Anisakis inside fish by applying a large current instantaneously using pulse power technology. I succeeded in doing so.It is the world's first new technology that enables Anisakis insecticide other than freezing and heating, and a patent application has already been filed.

 Anisakis food poisoning is food poisoning caused by the insertion of Anisakis into the human stomach when eating live Anisakis with sashimi.Preventing Anisakis food poisoning has been a long-standing challenge in the fishery industry.Currently, freezing is the only way to kill Anisakis without heating.Anisakis will die if frozen at -20 ° C for 24 hours or more, but the quality will deteriorate due to drip outflow, fading, and softening of the texture of the fish.In addition, a "decompressed" label is required for sales, which significantly reduces the commercial value.

 Pulsed power is the instantaneous super-giant power obtained by temporarily storing electrical energy from a 200V (or 100V) power supply in a capacitor and extracting these at the micro-nanosecond level.The research group succeeded in killing Anisakis in the fish by suppressing the temperature rise of the fish by applying this large current to the fish momentarily.It is said that the prototype machine was able to process 3 kg of azifille (cut into three pieces) in about 3 minutes at a time.There is less deterioration in quality compared to thawed products, and quality close to that of chilled products is usually maintained.

 A prototype of the Anisakis insecticidal device is already in operation at the Japan Sea Foods Factory, and we plan to ship samples of insecticidal-treated raw sashimi this fall.For practical use in the future, the company aims to develop a device capable of mass processing by verifying the conditions for insecticidal treatment at low cost and energy saving.

reference:[Kumamoto University] Developed a new Anisakis insecticidal method using pulse power-Anisakis sashimi without food poisoning risk- (PDF)

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