Quality of frozen/thawed sprat (Sprattus sprattus sprattus) stored in cling film and aluminum foil at 4C

Abstract

Frozen sprats (Sprattus sprattus sprattus) were thawed and separated into three lots: two lots were wrapped and kept chilled in a refrigerator at 4C, one wrapped in aluminum foil (AF), the other in cling film (CF) and a third lot left unpackaged and held in melting ice. Biochemical tests, performed at intervals over a 16-day period, showed better quality and an extension of shelf-life for sprats stored unpackaged in ice compared with those held at 4C packed in AF or CF. The levels of trimethylamine oxide-nitrogen (TMAO-N) decreased throughout storage and significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed between the lot in ice and the lots stored in AF or CF (P < 0.05). However, significant differences (P < 0.05) were not observed between AF and CF lots during the experiment. Increases in total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N) and trimethylamine-nitrogen (TMA-N) were significantly retarded, as were reductions in sensory quality, in the ice-stored fish compared with packaged, refrigerated fish.