Effect of High-Pressure Processing on Physico-Chemical, Microbiological and Sensory Traits in Fresh Fish Fillets (Salmo salar and Pleuronectes platessa)

Abstract

High-pressure (HP) treatment could lead to several advantages when applied to fish and seafood since it would affect the extension of the shelf life of this highly perishable food. In this regard, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of high-pressure treatment (500 MPa for 2 min at a temperature of 4 °C) on changes in quality on two different kinds of fresh fish fillets (Salmo salar and Pleuronectes platessa). Specifically, physico-chemical (VOCs, untargeted metabolomics spectra, pH and color), microbiological (Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas spp., mesophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria) and sensory traits were evaluated at different days of refrigerated storage. From the results obtained, it is possible to state that the high pressure significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced microbial growth for each investigated microorganism. Regarding the colorimetric coordinates, no remarkable effects on a* and b* indices were found, while a significant effect (p = 0.01) was observed on the colorimetric index L*, making the HP-treated samples lighter than their respective controls. The sensory analysis showed that for the odor attribute, the HP treatment seems to have had a stabilizing action during shelf-life. Moreover, the treated samples obtained a better score than the respective controls (p ≤ 0.05). With regards to texture and appearance attributes, the treatment seems to have had a significant (p ≤ 0.05) effect, making the treated samples more compact and opaque than controls, therefore resulting in the loss of the characteristics of raw fish for the treated samples. Moreover, from a chemical point of view, HP treatment prevents the development of volatile sulfides and delays the formation of histamine (p ≤ 0.05). Very interestingly, the metabolomic approach revealed novel dipeptide markers for the HP procedure.

Advanced Lipidomics in the Modern Meat Industry: Quality Traceability, Processing Requirement, and Health Concerns

“…So, the extension of GC-system and NMR-based lipidomics and their combination with LC-resolved MS would exert unique superiority to enrich the entire lipid metabolism pathway (e.g., biosynthesis, oxidative decomposition, and enzymatic lipolysis) by detecting FAs, TGs, and sterols as well as some specific short and polar secondary lipid-metabolites ( 8 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 22 ). Indeed, during non-thermal processing, such as HPP, some important water-soluble lipid-metabolites (e.g., Ser-PETA) might be active in fatty acid transformation and participate in GPs metabolism ( 36 ). Overall, the lipolysis of TGs and PLs in meats are closely related to some relevant factors, mainly including (i) the feeding processes of animals ( 28 , 29 ), (ii) circumstances in slaughtering ( 30 , 31 ), (iii) postmortem aging ( 11 , 42 ), (iv) thermal/non-thermal processing ( 8 , 13 , 17 , 19 , 35 , 37 , 57 ), and (v) brining/dry-ripening processes ( 45 – 47 , 58 ).…”

“…Consequently, the lipolysis of TGs and PLs was noted as a strong flavor-binding precursors through different thermal degradation (boiling, steaming, and roasting) and showed specific losses of representative lipids ( 19 , 35 ). It is worthwhile to note that fresh fish fillets, particularly Pleuronectes platessa upon high-pressure processing (HPP) were characterized by a distinctly high level of lipid-derived polar metabolites, serine-phosphoethanolamine species (Ser-PETA) ( 36 ). Specifically, studies on the discrimination of untreated/irradiated raw/ground meat from commercially produced goat, chicken, turkey, and pork through global lipid profile using UPLC-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap-MS/MS, targeted GC-resolved fatty acids composition, and chemometric tools (PCA and PLS-DA) have been recently reported ( 8 , 37 , 38 ).…”

Effects of high‐pressure processing on aquatic products with an emphasis on sensory evaluation

“…Table 1 presents the effects of HPP on chromatic characteristics. There is consensus that the L * value increases with pressure in the majority of aquatic products (at 250 to 600 MPa for 2 to 15 min), such as plaice ( Pleuronectes platessa ) (Castrica et al ., 2021), salmon ( Salmo salar ) (Castrica et al ., 2021), sea bass ( Dicentrarchus labrax ) (Teixeira et al ., 2014), tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) (Suemitsu & Cristianini, 2019), tuna ( Thunnus alalunga ) (Gómez‐Estaca et al ., 2009) and lobster ( Homarus americanus ) (Humaid et al ., 2019).…”

“…There are many explanations for the mechanism of high‐pressure inactivation of microorganisms, such as protein denaturation caused by pressure, destruction of microbial cells, change of microbial genetic mechanism, inactivation of microbial endogenous enzymes and biochemical reactions. HPP could inactivate several microorganisms, including Enterobacteriaceae, mesophilic bacteria, psychrotrophic bacteria, proteolytic bacteria, pseudomonas spp., H 2 S‐producing bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, yeast and mould (Castrica et al ., 2021). Microorganisms decompose proteins and lipids in aquatic products, causing spoilage and unpleasant odours.…”

Effects of Modified Atmosphere Packaging, Storage Temperature, and Absorbent Pads on the Quality of Fresh Cape Hake Fish Fillets

“…Generally, fish is a high-quality product with considerable economic importance and accounts for about 17% of the global population's intake of animal protein [10][11][12]. However, only around 60% of palatable fish is utilized by end-users, with the remainder being converted into animal feed or lost [13].…”