The Effect of Storage Temperature (4°C, 15°C and 25°C) on The Shelf Life of Whole Marine Fish (Rastrelliger kanagurta)

Abstract

Organoleptical and microbiological shelf-life evaluations of whole Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) were monitored during storage at 4°C for 144 hours, 15°C for 72 hours and at 25°C for 24 hours. The Organoleptical shelf life of Indian mackerel was found to be 151 hours at 4°C, 59.7 hours at 15°C and 19.4 hours at 25°C. Bacteria of Indian mackerel were dramatically grown at 4°C, 15°C and 25°C exceeding the bacterial spoilage limit of fish (7 log cfu/g) that limited by International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods, and reached to about, 7.83±0.23, 8.43±0.17 and 8.25±.51 log cfu/g, respectively. Microbiological shelf-life of Indian mackerel was found to be 118.2 hours at 4°C, 44.2 hours at 15°C and 15.6 hours at 25°C. Microbiological shelf life in studied fish was significantly shorter than the Organoleptical shelf life in the same fish. In this study, each of quality parameters was varied significantly (P<0.05) among storage temperatures.