Shelf-life determination: inter-relationship among chemical quality indicators of black tiger shrimp under different preservation conditions

Abstract

In this current work, the post-harvest freshness and quality of black tiger shrimp as affected by different preservation methods during 14 days of storage at 0 °C were investigated. Especially, the different preservation methods included immersing in polyphenols solution, vacuum packaging, and a combination of polyphenol solutions and vacuum packaging, which were all compared with the control method, i.e. storage in ice. The quality indicators including total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine (TMA-N), histamine, hypoxanthine, and quality index (QI) were used to evaluate the quality changes of shrimp during storage. The results showed that TVB-N, TMA-N and histamine increased with the increasing of storage time but at two different stages, while QI and hypoxanthine content increased linearly with preservation time. The process of black spot formation was partly and almost completely inhibited when shrimps were treated with polyphenol solution and stored under vacuum conditions. Linear regression equations between biochemical quality indicators have been developed for each sample. The remaining shelf-life can be estimated by quality index method (QIM). The shelf-life of treated samples appeared longer than that of the control. The vacuum packaging combined with polyphenol solutions of this study has a promise to increase the shelf-life and quality of shrimp.