Physicochemical and sensory changes of vacuum-packed, salt-ripened anchovy fillets (Engraulis ringens) stored at 8 and 20°C

Abstract

Anchovy (Engraulis ringens) fillets obtained from traditional salt-ripened for 8 weeks showed 26.9 mg/100g total volatile bases nitrogen (TVB-N), 2.9 mg/100g trimethylamine, 7.1, proteolytic activity index, 3.3% hydrolysis degree, 2.6 mg malonaldehyde/kg (TBA test) and 22.4 g KOH/100g total ester index. Water activity (Wa) values suggest osmotic equilibrium at 8th week (0.743±0.007). Physicochemical changes when fillets were vacuum-packed and stored for 14 weeks at 8°C/20°C were 32.4 / 75.7 TVB-N; 3.3 / 4.2 mg trimethylamine /100g; 9.8 /13.2 proteolytic activity index; 4.2 / 7.4% hydrolysis degree; 17.9/6.5 mg malonaldehyde/kg; and 20.1 / 21.7 total ester index respectively. Sensory scores corresponded to attractive reddish color and soft pleasant aroma of the product until 18th week at both temperatures, at the end of the study unpleasant odors corresponding to non-typical ripened fish (particularly in samples stored at 20°C) affected adversely the acceptability of the product for human consumption.

Keywords

• engraulis ringens
• ripening process
• anchovy
• vacuum package