Background and Objectives: In recent years, food safety and quality have become critical public health issues, driven by increased consumer awareness and globalization of food markets. The measurement of biogenic amines, which are formed from the decarboxylation of amino acids by bacteria in protein-rich foods, is one of the most practical methods for assessing quality in fish. The most common biogenic amines found in seafood include histamine, tyramine, putrescine, spermine, spermidine, and cadaverine. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the quality of cage-reared Asian sea bass based on the measurement of changes in biogenic amines during 6 months of frozen storage.
Methods: Asian sea bass fish immediately after being caught, were placed one by one in a box containing ice powder and transferred to the Pasabandar fish processing plant located in Dashtyari County for freezing and storage in a cold store at -18°C. After packaging the fish in polyethylene bags, freezing was performed at -36°C. In addition, a number of fish samples were transferred to the laboratory immediately after being caught as fresh and control samples for the measurement of biogenic amines. The biogenic amines studied included tyramine, histamine, cadaverine, putrescine, spermine, and spermidine. To measure the biogenic amines of the fish transferred to the processing plant, sampling was performed once a month after the fish were stored in a cold store at -18°C for 6 months. The biogenic amines were measured by acid extraction and derivatization.
Findings: According to the results, the levels of biogenic amines putrescine and cadaverine increased with time compared to fresh samples, while spermine and spermidine decreased significantly (P<0.05). Although the level of histamine did not show a significant difference between day 0 and the sixth month of storage (P>0.05), its level increased significantly between the remaining storage times (P<0.05). In fresh samples, the highest levels of biogenic amines were related to spermine and spermidine. Histamine was higher in fresh samples than in frozen samples, then decreased, and increased again at the end of the storage period, but did not reach the permissible limit. Tyramine, along with histamine, was not identified as another dangerous biogenic amine until the end of the storage period, so they cannot be considered as a risk factor in Asian sea bass. Putrescine and cadaverine showed a uniform increasing trend over time, and in samples stored in the frozen state, the highest amount of biogenic amine was related to putrescine.
Conclusion: Considering the uniform increasing trend of putrescine and cadaverine over time and the high level of putrescine, it can be said that these two biogenic amines are more effective than the others in assessing the quality of this fish. Although the levels of spermine and spermidine were higher than other biogenic amines, they cannot be considered as a suitable quality indicator for this fish due to the decreasing trend. The values obtained from all biogenic amines were lower than the permitted limit by the end of the storage period, which indicates the good quality of Asian sea bass during 6 months of storage in the cold storage. According to the results obtained, the quality of these fish was assessed as safe by the end of the storage period at -18°C. |
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