Hydrolysis and oxidation of European eel oil during frozen storage for 48 weeks

• Published in: European Food Research and Technology
• Main Authors: Özogul Y., Özogul F., Özkütük S., Kuley E.
• Other Authors: Çukurova Üniversitesi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: European eel; FFA; Frozen storage; PV; TVB-N; Anguilla anguilla
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12605/16004; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-006-0285-1

The quality assessment of the wild European eel (Anguilla anguilla) stored at -20 °C was assessed by sensory, chemical (total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid (FFA), thiobarbituric values (TBA) and pH) methods. The sensory analysis of showed that European eels were acceptable by panellists and can be stored for more than 48 weeks at -20 °C. No effects of frozen storage were observed on the proximate composition of eel. The level of TVB-N showed fluctuations (7.09-14.72 mg TVB-N/100 g) during frozen storage period, thus TVB-N could not be used as an indicator of frozen eel quality. FFA, PV and TBA values showed fluctuations during frozen storage period but remained low at the end of storage period, PV reached to the maximum level of 13.20±1.73 meq/kg, which did not exceed the maximum recommended value for human consumption (20 meq/kg). The release of FFA slightly increased (P>0.05) from the initial value of 0.88 to 2.14 (expressed as % of oleic acid) until 32 weeks of frozen storage while TBA increased from the initial value of 0.085 mg MA/kg to maximum level of 0.7696 mg MA/kg after week 40. After that, their values decreased to 1.82 and 0.5577 at week 48, respectively. This study showed that off-flavour and off-odour was not detected and frozen European eels were still acceptable by panellists and can be stored for more than 48 weeks at -20 °C. © Springer-Verlag 2006.