Effect of lightly salt and sucrose on rigor mortis changes in silver carp ( H ypophthalmichthys molitrix ) stored at 4°C

Summary To evaluate the effect of salt and sucrose on rigor mortis changes in silver carp during 72 h at 4 °C, physical (texture parameters, water holding capacity ( WHC ), cooking loss, L * value) and chemical adenosine triphosphate ( ATP ‐related compounds, K value, p H value) characteristics were studied. Silver carp were subjected to following treatments: left untreated ( CK ), treated with 1.8% salt ( S ) and 1.8% salt incorporating 1.8% sucrose ( S + S ). Curing treatments predominantly increased IMP content, WHC and texture parameters, retarded cooking loss and discoloration compared with untreated samples. The highest IMP concentration measured in S and S + S all occurred at 4 h, which was prior to that of CK (48 h). K value of S + S did not follow a linear relationship with time. The results indicated that the best eating times of CK , S and S + S were 2, 4 and 4 h at 4 °C, respectively, and curing treatments improved the quality of silver carp during postmortem process.