Effects of Lactic Acid Bacteria Added in the Salted Squid and Fermented Oyster Products on Microbiological and Sensory Qualities during Storage

The salted fish or seasoned-fermented shellfish, jeotgal, is traditionally prepared for a long time and popular as a side dish for Koreans. However, high salt content is known as a key factor to hinder its sales in current health-conscious society. Based on the guideline of Korean Standards, the fermented or seasoned fish products including salted-seasoned squids should contain fish as a raw material more than 75% in the products. An immunostimulatory LAB strain, which was characterized by this research group, was deliberately added into both the squid and the oyster samples for examining quality change during storage. 300 g of each sample was divided into two storage conditions: 5 ˚ C and room temperature, 20 ˚ C. As a result, all the samples with LAB tend to increase in viable cell counts under room temperature preservation, especially in the fermented oyster samples with LAB increase 100 times after 2 weeks storage. On the other hand, it was noted that general bacterial counts maintain almost constant in all the samples irrespective to addition of LAB. Judging from the bacterial examination, the addition of LAB in the squid and the fermented oyster samples neither affects the changes of LAB and general bacterial counts nor inhibits the bacterial growth in this experimental settings. It is not expected the increase in LAB added during the usual shelf life of the commercial products. Compared to non-LAB samples, overall acceptance was significantly better for the samples added LAB. In conclusion, this experiment suggests that addition of LAB is strongly recommended to develop low-salt fermented fish and shellfish products of higher sensory qualities.