Effect of soluble CO2 stabilisation and vacuum packaging in the shelf life of farmed sea bream and sea bass fillets

The objective of this study was to determine the differences of sensory, microbiological and chemical quality in vacuum-packaged fillets of sea bream and sea bass previously submitted to soluble gas solubilisation (SGS) with 100% CO2, at 2 bar for 30 and 60 min and stored at chilled temperature for 15 days. Apart from pH value that showed a regular increase during chilled storage, the other chemical index [total volatile bases nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA-N) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs)] had showed to be poor indicators of changes in quality of products. Final TVB-N values ranged from 16.0 to 17.4 mg N per 100 g and from 17.3 to 19.4 mg N per 100 g in sea bream and sea bass, respectively. Sensory evaluation resulted as the most reliable parameter of quality decay. The results show that SGS treatment kept the initial quality of fillets for longer time, which was particularly visible on the sea bream fillets, thus contributing to an extension in 2-3 days of the shelf life. SGS had also a positive effect in the delay of microbial growth.