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Food Chemistry 125 (2011) 49–54

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Food Chemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem

Freshness assessment of ray fish stored in ice by biochemical, chemical and physical methods
V.M. Ocaño-Higuera a,⇑, A.N. Maeda-Martínez b, E. Marquez-Ríos c, D.F. Canizales-Rodríguez a, F.J. Castillo-Yáñez a, E. Ruíz-Bustos a, A.Z. Graciano-Verdugo a, M. Plascencia-Jatomea c
a b c

Departamento deCiencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad de Sonora, Encinas y Rosales s/n. Hermosillo, Sonora 83000, Mexico Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico Departamento de Investigación y Posgrado en Alimentos, Universidad de Sonora, Encinas y Rosales s/n, Hermosillo, Sonora 83000, Mexico

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Ray fish were caught, filleted, and storedin ice. Fillets were analysed for 18 days to determine the chemical, biochemical and physical changes and their relation to the muscle eating quality. Trimethylamine (TMA-N), total volatile bases (TVB-N), ATP content and breakdown products, K value, pH, texture, water-holding capacity (WHC) and colour changes were monitored. At the beginning of the study, the ray fish muscle showed a lowconcentration of ATP and a high value of inosine 50 -monophosphate (IMP). Regarding to the signs of freshness and deterioration, K value presented an exponential increase (r2 = 0.95) with an initial value of 4.7% and a final value of 47.5%. Furthermore, the TBV-N and TMA-N significantly increased (P < 0.05) during the storage in ice. As for the physical analysis whereas the texture changed (P < 0.05); pH andthe WHC were not affected (P < 0.05). The overall results of this study indicated that the edible quality of ray fish muscle was maintained during at least 15 days of ice storage. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 22 August 2009 Received in revised form 8 July 2010 Accepted 16 August 2010

Keywords: Ray fish muscle Postmortem changes K value Freshness Quality1. Introduction The ray fish is one of the most important fisheries in Mexico, which is due to the large amount of ray fish caught and price; reaching in 2004, 6946 tonnes (Anuario Estadístico de Pesca, 2006) and a price of 3 dollars/kg in Mexico. Its high nutritional value as well as its muscle characteristics, makes this elasmobranch an attractive species to consumers because its meat is lean andboneless. Despite the importance of this fishing resource that is mainly catch in an artisanal way and commercialised fresh on ice, nowadays little is known about this species, where the postmortem biochemical properties of its muscle has not been studied. Such studies will provide an invaluable tool for its postharvest management and processing. Studies on postmortem biochemistry and shelf-lifeof tropical species like rays are scarce. The spoilage rate of tropical and subtropical species when stored in ice might differ considerably from those from cold waters. For fish caught in tropical or subtropical waters, the storage times in ice are relatively longer, e.g., from 2 to more than 3 weeks. This difference in storage time is due to the nature of the microflora initially present in fish...