Effect of lactic acid and lysozyme on river fish fillets during cold storage

Abstract

Presented work evaluated how quality of catfish fillets is affected by treatments using lactic acid or lysozyme in combination with chlorine. Fish fillets without skin were consecutively immersed and washed in 100 ppm chlorine solution and sprayed with 2.5% lactic acid or 0.5% lysozyme solution. Control samples were only washed with water at the same time. Samples were stored at 2 °C for 10 days in vacuum packaging. Parameters of pH, firmness, surface color and microbial cell counts (cfu/g) were measured on the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th days. Especially the latter had high importance from the point of view of food safety. Catfish fillets shown decreased survival of microorganisms as a result of treatment. Lysozyme and lactic acid achieved 1.8 and 2.4 log cfu/g reduction, respectively. Lower cell counts were observed for all treated samples compared to control during 10 days. Chlorine in combination with lactic acid achieved the best efficiency. The results are promising and suggest that combined treatment is able to improve safety by controlling microorganisms on fish fillets during cold storage.