Combined effect of probiotics on prolonging the shelf life of GIFT tilapia fillets

Abstract

Probiotics are posing diverse applications to modify food constituents for health benefits of humans. There is an increasing trend to get insights into developments of new technologies to improve the food products. The present study explored the preservation effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae as potential probiotics for improving the shelf life of GIFT Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). The probiotics addition in agar film exhibited a reasonable antioxidant activity and antimicrobial potency against some food-borne pathogens such as H2S-producing Pseudomonas sp. and luminescent bacterial colonies at 15°C. During storage, the physicochemical properties (pH) and microbial and sensory properties were evaluated. The study indicated that probiotics addition in agar film was found principal responsible for the inhibitory activity of total bacteria. Probiotics reduced the H2S-producing bacteria due to which reduction in chemical spoilage was observed. The lactic acid bacterial counts were 4.5 log CFU/g in treatment F4 on day 10 and 15. H2S-producing bacteria were 8.5–3 log CFU/g in F4. Enterobacteriaceae were 7–2 log CFU/g on day 10. Pseudomonas spp. was 3.5 log CFU/g in F4 on day 15. Total viable bacterial count was 9 log CFU/g in F4 on day 15. The pH was 6.8 in F4 at day 15, which indicate that decreasing in bacterial count was observed from control to treatment F4 which contain both probiotics. The colour of fillet was stable throughout the storage period in treatments. Thus, it may be concluded that films with probiotic could extend shelf life of tilapia fillets up to at least one week.