Resumen

VALLS, Jaime E; XIQUES, Anirys T  y  ESCALONA, Andrés. Physical and Chemical Evaluation of Lebranche Fillets (Mugil liza) in Frozen Storage at -18°C.. Rev. Cient. (Maracaibo) [online]. 2008, vol.18, n.3, pp.329-338. ISSN 0798-2259.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the physical and chemical parameters of lebranche (Mugil liza) fillets during frozen storage at -18°C for five months. Initially the raw fish were characterized for proximate analysis (moisture, protein, fat and ash), size and weight. Test for frozen fillets stability were performed monthly in order to determine: pH, lactic acid, colour (L, a and b), moisture, solubility of proteins in saline solutions (SPs), water-binding capacity (WBC), nucleotide degradation adenosine monophosphate (AMP), inosine (Ino), hypoxantine (Hx) and texture. Lost of the protein quality was more evident at the second month of storage, when parameters like SPs drop to 45.12% and WBC increased to 17.05% in comparison to the beginning of the study with values of SPs of 74.88% and WBC of 3.52%, these results showed significant protein damage during the storage time. In the frozen fillets autolytic changes were basically in pH, lactic acid, and Ino but these were considerably slowly for the low temperature employed in this study. Colour changes were detected in the white and red muscle fillets, and they showed different behavior during the storage time; in the first the red colour (parameter “a”) decreased, meanwhile in the red muscle redness was increased, but the luminosity (parameter “L”) were increased in the white muscle and decreased in the red muscle. In this research the storage time shows significant differences (P<0.05) with: pH, lactic acid, colour, moisture, SPs, WBC, nucleotides and texture. Fillets showed good grade of freshness until the second month, after that quality decreased.

Palabras clave : Lebranche; Mugil liza; frozen storage; proximal analysis.