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BACTERIAL COUNTS AND RANCIDITY ESTIMATES OF STORED QUICK‐SALTED FISH CAKES
Author(s) -
VALLE F. R.,
HINOJOSA J.,
BARRERA D.,
MORA R. A.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1973.tb02819.x
Subject(s) - chemistry , food science , mackerel , fish <actinopterygii> , degree of unsaturation , water activity , dried fish , shelf life , water content , fishery , chromatography , biology , geotechnical engineering , engineering
Total plate, halophilic and staphylococcal counts were determined in quick‐salted fish cakes after 0, 1, 2 and 3 months' storage without packaging at an ambient temperature of 35–40°C. A rancidity (thiobarbituric acid or TBA) index was also determined in sun‐dried and tunnel‐dried cakes, before and after desalting, stored under the same conditions for the same lengths of time. Species studied were skipjack, mullet, Spanish mackerel and shark from the Gulf of California. It was found that total plate and halophilic counts behaved similarly, initially increasing with time, passing through a maximum, and then decreasing. Counts increased with decreasing salt and increasing moisture contents of the cakes. Maximum counts obtained were of the order of 10 6 per gram for cakes made from shark, while negative counts were obtained with cakes made from skipjack after 3 months. No growth of staphylococci was obtained at any time in any of the plated dilutions (10 −1 to 10 −6 ). Rancidity of the cakes increased with time, depending upon the following factors: oil content of the species; degree of unsaturation of the oil; drying time of the cakes; presence or absence of hematin pigments; presence or absence of sunlight when drying. Some of the rancid components in the cakes were removed by desalting in boiling water. In a limited taste panel evaluation of the cakes, order of preference was found to correlate well with decreasing rancidity