Revista de Oceanografia e Pesquisa Marinha
Acesso livre

Abstrato

Indicators of Fish Freshness: Total Volatile Acids and Bases

Derrick A Balladin*

Total Volatile Acids (TVA) and Total Volatile Bases (TVB) are principal spoilage indicators monitored to determine the degradation of the fish muscle tissue. This study seeks to monitor the TVA and TVB concentrations using a Flow Injection Analysis – Gas Diffusion (FIA-GD) method on Scomberomorus brasiliensis (Carite). Samples were purchased from Supermarket operators (Single and Chain); fishmongers (who will ply their trade in the mornings and evenings); and fresh fish muscle tissue stored at -15°C, 1°C, and 29°C over a 12-month period. All the fish samples in this study, except twelve samples stored at 29°C, should be considered highly edible (TVA < 220 ppm and 200 ppm < TVB < 600 ppm). Analysis of variance tests (α=0.05) on the data indicated that there are significant differences among the values measured for the other locations or storage conditions. Samples from Single- and Chain- operator supermarkets were about the same levels of TVA and TVB, but these are different from those observed for the highway fishmongers' samples (AM and PM). Higher TVA and TVB concentrations observed at higher storage temperature (29°C).