The Effects of Essential Oils Addition on the Quality of Wild and Farmed Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) Stored in Ice

Abstract

The preservative effect of laurel (Laurus nobilis) and cumin (Cuminum cyminum) essential oils (EOs) on fresh vacuum-packed (VP) wild and farmed sea bream (Sparus aurata) fillets was evaluated during ice storage by microbiological, physicochemical and electrophoretic analyses. In the present study, wild (W) and farmed (F) fillet treatment included the following lots: control vacuum-packaged samples (WV and FV), VP with added EOs (0.5% v/w) of cumin (WVC and FVC), and of laurel (WVL and FVL). Wild and cultured fish were found to differ significantly in their muscle proximate compositions irrespective of fillet treatments with particularly higher fat and carbohydrate contents in farmed sea bream (4.82 and 0.32 g/100 g, respectively, vs. 1.53 and 0.22 g/100 g in wild fish). The treatment of wild and farmed sea bream fillets with laurel or with cumin EOs induced a decrease in bacterial growth by ca. 0.5 to 1 log cfu/g and in lipid oxidation by ca. 40% of TBA value, extending the shelf life of fish fillets by approximately 5 days of ice storage. However, the addition of EOs to VP fillets resulted in a reduced liquid holding capacity (LHC) throughout ice storage suggesting an early proteolysis initiation confirmed by the myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic electrophoretic profiles. Laurel and cumin EOs as natural and efficient antibacterial and antioxidant compounds can be used in conjunction with VP to enhance ice-stored sea bream quality.