Lipid damage detection during the frozen storage of an underutilized fish species

Lipid damage was studied on an underutilized fish species (blue whiting, Mi cromesistius pontassou). Blue whiting fillets were frozen at -40 degrees C and stored at -30 and -10 degrees C up to 1 year. Primary and secondary lip id oxidation products, interaction compounds and lipid hydrolysis were stud ied on the fish white muscle. At -30 degrees C most of the lipid damage ind ices tested (free fatty acids, peroxide value, conjugated dienes, thiobarbi turic acid index and fluorescence detection) showed a significant (p < 0.05 ) correlation with the storage time. However, as the fish damage increased (-10 degrees C condition) only the free fatty acids and fluorescence detect ions provided satisfactory correlations with the storage time (r(2) = 0.94 and r(2) = 0.92, respectively), while reliability of the remaining indices decreased in order to assess lipid damage and fish deteriorative changes. ( C) 2000 Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology. Published by Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.