The objective of this work was to evaluate integrated processes of cooking and vacuum cooling of mussels. Thus, the following alternatives were assessed: vapor cooking followed by vacuum cooling (VCk-VC) and water immersion cooking followed by vacuum cooling with the samples immersed in the cooking water (ICk-IVC). Such alternatives were compared with a conventional process of vapor cooking followed by water immersion cooling (VCk-IC). The time to cool the samples until 10C was similar for the VCk-VC and VCk-IC processes, while for the ICk-IVC process, the cooling time was much higher. However, the samples submitted to the VCk-VC process presented a cooling weight loss in contrast to the weight gains observed for samples treated using the ICk-IVC and VCk-IC processes. On the other hand, the samples submitted to the VCk-VC process presented lower counts of mesophiles and psychrotrophs during cold storage than samples treated using the conventional process.5, 2011. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSMussels are the most abundant cultivated shellfish in Brazil and are marketed as fresh or as processed product. At the initial steps of industrial processing, mussels are cooked and cooled to manual extraction of the meat from the shell. The cooling is classically accomplished by immersion of the cooked mussels in cold water, which is a critical step because cooling water and ice can cause recontamination of the cooked product. In this way, the present paper reported an alternative to process mussels using the vacuum cooling technique. The obtained results showed that the microbiological quality of vacuum-cooled mussels was superior to that of conventional cooled ones. bs_bs_banner Journal of Food Process Engineering

An alternative method was proposed to cook shucked Perna perna mussel using an integrated cooking and vacuum-cooling system. The pasteurized samples were stored for 25 days at 3C under modified atmosphere (MAP) of 50% CO 2 /50% N 2 . Physicochemical and microbiological characteristics were evaluated over 25 days for the conventional (CP) and alternative processing (AP). Physicochemical characteristics showed no significant change over the period. Water loss was greater for AP (58.23%) than CP (13.6%) resulting in a product without exudation during storage. Vibrio spp. was detected only in fresh mussels and was eliminated during the heat treatment without recontamination after processing. The counts of mesophilic and psychrotrophic microorganisms decreased after the heat treatment and during storage; the average count was 10 2 CFU/g at the end of 25 days. The AP combined with the modified atmosphere was efficient to control exudation and microbiota of mussels stored over 25 days. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONThe shelf life of raw mussels is restricted to 2 days, and the cross-contamination during mussel processing is a reality in countries such as Brazil. Thus, an alternative process is presented in this study to improve the processing and storage conditions of cooked mussels that could be applied by seafood processing industries so that the cooked mussels have lower microbiological count beyond 15 days when compared to the conventional process.The physicochemical properties of the mussel processed in the CP and AP were evaluated during storage on days 0, 4, 7, 11, 14, 18 and 25. The experiments and analyses were performed in triplicate.pH was measured directly in the triturated meat with a digital pH electrode model Q400A from FIG. 1. FLOWCHART FOR (a) CONVENTIONAL AND (b) ALTERNATIVE PROCESSING OF PERNA PERNA MUSSEL ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR COOKING MUSSELS M. DE LIMA ET AL.