Effects of Frozen Storage Condition Abuse on the Textural and Chemical Properties of Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) Fillets

Abstract

Fish is highly perishable and frozen storage is normally used to maintain its quality. This study employed freezing-thawing (F-T) cycles to simulate the abuse in frozen storage conditions, and their effects on the quality changes of grass carp fillet were investigated. Results indicated that with the increase in F-T cycles, the hardness exhibited an increase during cycle 0 and cycle 1 and then decreased in the following two cycles. Measurement points had little influence on textural properties. Total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) value showed an increase from 8.72 to 22.55 mg N/100 g during four F-T cycles, while thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) exhibited gradual increase with the cycles and K value was also increased from 20.57 to 76.29% with the cycles. The results demonstrated that frozen storage condition abuse showed an important effect on textural properties and TVB-N, TBARS and K value of grass carp fillet. Practical Applications Investigations of fish and fish fillet freshness are much more significant in research and development for providing premium quality for the acceptance of consumers as well as international fishery trade. However, little work has been reported about the frozen storage condition abuse on textural and chemical properties of grass carp fillet. Therefore, in the current study, freezing-thawing cycles were used to simulate the temperature abuse during frozen storage, and their effects on the quality changes of grass carp fillet muscle based upon fish textural parameters were investigated. The results should provide practical guidance for the fish industry.