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Abstract

Smoking is a traditional preserving method used for both fish and meat products around the world. Smoked fish products have wide acceptance today due to their accustomed taste and aroma as well as their extended shelf-life. In this study, we aimed to determine quality changes and shelf-life of wild hot-smoked Mediterranean horse mackerel (Trachurus mediterraneus, Steindachner, 1868) during frozen storage (-20±2°C) in comparison with its cultured counterparts. After gutting, cleaning and draining the samples, they were salted in 10% brine solution for 1 h and hot smoked within the same day. The samples were placed in styrofoam plates covered with a stretched film and frozen at -40C for 24 h. Then, all samples were stored at -20±2°C until spoilage. Chemical, microbiological and sensory analyses were performed monthly to investigate their quality changes and the shelf stability of the products. The results of total volatile basic-nitrogen, thiobarbituric acid and trimethylamine were obtained within the acceptable levels. Histamine values were found well below the permitted limits set by Food and Drug Administration and European Union. Sensory results showed that both storage groups (wild and cultured) had 7 months of shelf-life. This study showed that hot-smoked wild and cultured horse mackerel can be stored at -20±2°C for 7 months. Culturing did not make any significant differences (P<0.05) in sensory quality despite of differences in chemical and microbiological changes between wild and cultured groups during storage. On the other hand, better consumer acceptance was observed for cultured samples indicating the advantage of culturing this species for a better market value. We also observed that frozen storage can retard the formation of biogenic amine contents and therefore, it is suggested to apply for such products to avoid histamine health risk.