THE CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF CATFISH FILLETS (CLARIAS GARIEPINUS) WITH A VEGETABLE COATING DURING FROZEN STORAGE

SAMYA I. A. HASSANIN

Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research, Abbassa,

Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to determine the changes in the quality of catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fillets with vegetable coating
during storage at -18±1ºC for 20 weeks by physical, chemical, microbiological and organoleptic analyses. A puree from vegetable mixture prepared from (potato, carrot, pea, green pepper, tomato, parsley) was used as coating for fillet samples. The fillets divided to 3 groups: Group (1) control (CFC) fillets without any treatment; group (2) (CFVT) fillets coating by vegetable mixture and group (3) (CFSVT) fillets soaked in 3% sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) for 20 min following by vegetable mixture coating.

The results indicated that, TVB-N, TMA-N, PV and TBA values did not show any significant (p>0.05) changes in (CFSVT) fillets but slight increases values for (CFVT) compared to high values for control
(CFC)
fillets. While pH, thaw drip, PV, TBA and psychrophilic bacterial count levels in (CFC)
samples revealed gradual significant increase (p<0.05) compared with lower levels for (CFVT) and no significant changes for (CFSVT) samples during frozen storage period.

In terms of sensory evaluation, color, odor, texture and taste scores did not show any significant change in (CFSVT) samples. While (CFVT) samples revealed slight decreased in texture and odor compared to control which showed significant decrease in all sensory parameter. Therefore, it is suggested that, production of such product from the catfish fillets due to the treatment under these study can improve its chemical and sensory quality during frozen storage and extend the shelf-life than the catfish fillets stored as an only fillets.

Key Words: Catfish fillets. Frozen. Vegetable coating. Phosphates.