You can't just mold fish paste into a leg shape. It falls apart. So, they add binders. Starch (potato or wheat), egg whites, and sorbitol are common.
Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol. It makes Krab feel slightly rubbery. That "snap" when you bite into a California roll? That’s the sorbitol doing its job. Without it, your sushi would just taste like fishy pudding.
Then comes the mechanization. The paste gets extruded through a machine. It comes out looking like a red-striped, fishy sausage. They steam it, slice it, and ta-da! Instant imitation crustacean.
