| Summary: | The Atlantic Mackerel (Scomber colias) is a fast-swimming pelagic fish that can be found in the warm, temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as on the shelf and upper slopes of the Mediterranean Sea. Mackerel is a great source of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, compounds that have health benefits. Mackerel is also a good source of proteins, essential amino acids and other biologically active compounds. However, it is highly vulnerable to lipid oxidation due to the large amount of unsaturated fatty acids it contains. Gravading is a fish processing technique popular in Scandinavian and Nordic countries, which involves applying a mixture of salt and sugar to the fish fillets and then letting it mature for 1-4 days at low temperature (in refrigeration) to produce gravads, a salt-sugar delicacy with a salt content of 3 –6% and a pH greater than 5. This process has been applied to fish such as salmon, whitefish, trout, or Greenland sole. The main objective of this work was to study the effect of the gravading process on mackerel fillets using physicochemical, biochemical and microbiological parameters. Specifically, it was intended to study the effect on the quality and storage stability of mackerel that went through the gravading process; monitor some quality parameters, namely color (CIE Lab), texture (hardness), pH, water activity and moisture content, total volatile basic nitrogen content (TVB-N), or thiobarbituric acid reactive substances content (TBARS) and the presence/abundance of microorganisms evaluating total aerobic and psychotropic bacteria counts; and to study and understand how two different storage temperatures, 4 °C and 9 °C, can influence changes in these quality parameters. Experimental and laboratory work took place from early April to mid-July 2021 at the Chemical and Food Processing Laboratories of the Department of Food Engineering of the Institute of Engineering (ISE) of the University of Algarve (UAlg), Campus da Penha, Faro, Portugal. The fish, S. colias, were purchased ...
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