Limited shelf life of green mussel restricts its accessibility to wider markets. The study assessed the potential of using organic acids (lactic and citric acids) in enhancing the quality and storage life of chilled mussel. Pretreatments included: 2% lactic acid (LA) and 2% citric acid (CA). Results from sensory analysis concluded that lactic acid (LA) pretreatment had 15 days of acceptability compared to the untreated sample. It had also lower the volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA-N), psychrophilic and lactic acid bacteria count of the sample during the storage. The weight loss of the citric acid pretreated sample was higher compared to the lactic acid pretreated mussel. Results from quality assessment indicated that pretreatment using lactic acid can be used to improve the storage life of chilled green mussel for 15 days compared 6 days of untreated samples.

Isolation and characterization of bacteria in food products are important to determine and distinguish the beneficial or harmful effects of microbiota in certain samples. Lactic acid bacteria in food products had long been associated to good factors as food preservatives and with added fermentation metabolites. This study isolated and characterized lactic acid bacteria from burong bangus. The culture and purification process of bacteria isolation resulted to 4 strains of lactic acid bacteria namely Enterococcus faecalis, Tetragenococcus muriaticus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subp. delbrueckii and Carnobacterium divergens. High enzymatic activity were observed with E. faecalis particularly on lipase and protease assay. While C. divergens have no enzymatic activity against lipase, protease, amylase and cellulase. The antimicrobial property of L. delbrueckii is only susceptible to amoxicillin unlike the other three bacteria isolates. No antagonistic activity were observed with the four bacterial strains against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The result of this study showed promising benefits to the industry especially in developing countries like the Philippines because population are not yet so aware of this organisms and the benefits that can be derived through their consumption.

This study assessed the potential of lactic acid, citric acid, and sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) as pre-treatments to improve the quality and shelf life of vacuum-packed green mussel during chilled storage. Blanched mussel meat samples were dipped in 2% lactic acid (LA), 2% citric acid (CA), 10% sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), 10% STPP + 2% lactic acid (STPP-LA), 10% STPP + 2% citric acid (STPP-CA) solutions and chilled at 3˚C. Vacuum-packed green mussel pre-treated with lactic acid have higher sensory scores and remained acceptable at 24 days of storage. Psychrophilic and lactic acid bacteria counts were significantly lower (P<0.05) than other treatments and remained within the safe limit throughout the storage period. Total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA-N), pH and ammonia increased with storage in all samples but values for acid pre-treated samples remained within the safe limit. However, the weight of organic acid pre-treated samples significantly decreased (P<0.05) than the control (no pre-treatment). Results of the quality assessment indicated that lactic acid pre-treatment can significantly extend the shelf life of green mussel for 24 days at chilled storage compared to 6 days in the untreated sample.