Chemical preservatives in foodstuffs IV. Prolongation of the keeping guality of fresh fish by antibiotics

Abstract

A study has been made of the effect of antibiotics in the storage of fresh Baltic herring. Experiments were made with muscle homogenates, to which antibiotics were added, and whole fish and fillets, treated by means of dips in antibiotic solutions and storage in antibiotic ice. The temperatures studied were 2°C and 10°C. The antibiotics employed were chlortetracycline and oxytetracycline. It was observed that the antibiotics improved the keeping quality of Baltic herring. In dipping treatments, and in experiments with muscle homogenates, the favorable effect of the antibiotic was observable even at the early phase of the storage, whereas when antibiotic ice was used such effect was only discovered after about one week’s storage. In a comparison of chlortetracycline and oxytetracycline no essential differences were observed in their effectivity.