Quality Comparison of Aquacultured Pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) Fillets with Other Aquacultured Fish Fillets Using Subjective and Objective Sensorial Traits

Abstract

Pacu were purged for 0, 2, 4, and 6 days, processed into skinless fillets, and sensory qualities compared. The effect of depuration procedures on preference was determined using a simple ranking test. Pacu with the highest preference was compared with other aquacultured fish--channel catfish, rainbow trout, tilapia, and hybrid striped

<b>Impact of electrical stunning on fish behavior and meat quality of pacu (<i>Piaractus mesopotamicus</i>)

“…Studies on other fish species also reported increase in bleeding when electrical current was applied for desensitization (Lambooij et al, 2008;Vargas et al, 2013). The presence of hemorrhage may compromise the meat quality, once consumers prefer to buy fish fillets with a light color or natural color characteristic of the species (Pullela et al, 2000), otherwise it may indicate failures in fish processing or storage. Pacus have light colored meat (Pullela et al, 2000), but the natural color characteristics were not observed in the treatments at 200 and 150 Volts DC.…”

“…The presence of hemorrhage may compromise the meat quality, once consumers prefer to buy fish fillets with a light color or natural color characteristic of the species (Pullela et al, 2000), otherwise it may indicate failures in fish processing or storage. Pacus have light colored meat (Pullela et al, 2000), but the natural color characteristics were not observed in the treatments at 200 and 150 Volts DC. In contrast, the stunned pacu fillets subjected to 100 volts AC or DC exhibited less bleeding, probably due to the lower voltage.…”