Effect of previous slurry ice treatment on the quality of cooked sardine (Sardina pilchardus)

The use of slurry ice was evaluated as a technological treatment prior to cooking processing of fish. Thus, sardine (Sardina pilchardus) was stored in slurry ice for 2, 5 and 8 days. At such times, sardine specimens were taken and subjected to steam cooking, and the results were compared with those from a parallel control batch previously stored in flake ice. Quality assessment of lipid damage in cooked fish was performed by measuring the formation of free fatty acids, peroxides, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and interaction compounds. The volatile amines–total and trimethylamine–assessment was also carried out. A significant (p<0.05) inhibition of lipid damage–peroxides and fluorescent compounds assessment–and trimethylamine formation was observed in cooked sardine as a consequence of the preliminary treatment in slurry ice. This work opens the way to the use of slurry ice as a preliminary treatment of fish material prior to its thermal processing.