Sensory, microbiological, physical and chemical properties of cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and broadtail shortfin squid (Illex coindetii) stored in ice

Abstract

The objective of this study was to characterize whole raw cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and shortfin squid (Illex coindetii) during storage in ice through sensory, microbiological, chemical and physical analyses. The recently developed Quality Index Method (QIM) tables for these species were used for sensory analysis. Shelf-life of whole cuttlefish and shortfin squid were estimated as around 10 and 9 days, respectively, according to QIM, which is shorter than for most species, especially fish. The numbers of microorganisms found in cuttlefish and shortfin squid surfaces until rejection were lower than in fish, which suggest predominance of enzymatic (autolytic) degradation. H 2 S-producing bacteria constituted a significant proportion of the spoilage flora. Physical analysis performed using the RT-Freshmeter and the Torrymeter showed these instruments can be applied to cuttlefish and shortfin squid, providing useful complementary information on the rates of change of electrical properties. Free tryptophan and VBN contents significantly changed during the first storage week indicating that low levels of these compounds could be used as indicators of fresh and high quality cuttlefish and broadtail shortfin squid. Urea can be useful as spoilage indicator for cuttlefish, as well as agmatine for broadtail shortfin squid. An overall look into data obtained shows, as expected, that spoilage of these cephalopod species can be considered a different phenomena when compared to fish and is not yet completely clarified.

Biochemical and Bacteriological properties of fresh and frozen sold cephalopods in the Egyptian market.

“…Meanwhile, the present values were remarkably higher than those detected by Vaz-Pires et al (2008) in other species of fresh squids and cuttlefish (9.9 and 7.7 mg/100 g muscle respectively). On the other side, the production of VBN was more intense in frozen squids (15.93 ± 0.01mg/100g) than in fresh squids and cuttlefish.…”

“…On the other side, the production of VBN was more intense in frozen squids (15.93 ± 0.01mg/100g) than in fresh squids and cuttlefish. This value was lower than those in spoiled squids and cuttlefish (26.9 and 21.9 mg/100 g respectively) detected by Vaz-Pires et al (2008). All the present VBN values were below the critical limits of 25, 30 and 35 mg /100g specified by the European Commission guidelines (EC, 1995) for different groups of fish species.…”

“…Vaz-Pires et al, (2008) reported a TMA value of 0.1 and 0.3 mg/100 g for fresh shortfin squid and cuttlefish respectively; while they detected 8.4 and 10 mg/100 g in spoiled squids and cuttlefish after 10 days in ice storage. Although, the levels of VBN & TMA in frozen squids are below the standard limits, yet the standard limits were found to vary within different species, age and sex of animals and season of harvesting (Kilinc & Cakli, 2005).…”

“…However, the shelf-life of cephalopods is much shorter (approximately between 50% and 80%) than for most fish species stored in similar temperatures and conditions (Kreuzer, 1984). The rejection time for cephalopods products is always around 10 days for cuttlefish and 9 days for squid (Vaz-Pires et al, 2008). This indicates that the spoilage process in cephalopods is different from fish due to many reasons, including their thinner and fragile skin, nutritional composition that is more liable to enzymatic degradation, shorter and less pronounced rigor mortis and initial autolytic degradation for a longer period (Vaz-Pires & Seixas, 2006).…”

A Review on Correlations between Fish Freshness and pH during Cold Storage

“…Most of the fish samples are the salt water and fresh water raw fish freshly harvested from the farm or the sea. For example the commonly used types of fish samples are gilthead sea beam [14] , Sardina pilchardus [12] , Coregonus albula L. [5] , Merluccius merluccius [16] , silver cat fish [16] , Mallotus Villosus [17] , Thunnus obesus [18] , Sepia officinalis [19] .…”