Fish meat emulsion was prepared from very-low-lipid sardine minced meat obtained through grinding or suspending in weak alkaline solution, and the effect of the yolk/white ratio in a blended emulsifier on this emulsion was investigated using rheometry and microscopy. A blended egg yolk/egg white ratio of 0.23310A66 was equal to a constituent ratio in the real whole egg. Four changes in flow property, reported when whole egg was used as an emulsifier instead of egg yolk, were reproduced in

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... -meat emulsion with a blended emulsifier: (1) the decrease in the flow behavior index in the up-curve (2) the increase in the yield stress in the up-curve (3) the decrease in the consistency index in the down-curve and (4) the increase in the hysteresis loop area. In suspended-meat emulsion, (2) and (4) became obviously true at the yolk/white ratios of 0.110.6 and 0.010.7. Lower moisture in suspended meat, which was prepared from sardines chilled in ice-water for a slightly longer period, would be the main reason for the result that these two items were not reproduced at the ratio of 0.23310.466. The effect of the egg-white portion worked well under the higher moisture conditions of the suspended meat due to more egg-white. The increase in oil droplet size by the effects of both yolk and white caused the deformation of the droplet shape and the resulting coalescence during the shear. As a result, the shear-thinning property was intensified. The thread-like substances and the myofibrillar network structure tightly adhered to the surface of the droplet during the shear and promoted the coalescence at the yolk/white ratio of 0.010.7.