Chemical, Microbiological, and Sensory Quality of Cod Products Salted in Different Brines

Abstract

: Studies were carried out on the effect of different brines containing high concentrations of calcium chloride (CaCl2, 0.8%w/w), magnesium chloride (MgCl2, 0.4%w/w), and potassium chloride (KCl, 50%) on the chemical (chloride and moisture contents), microbial (total viable counts, total coliforms, enterococci, and staphylococci), and sensory quality of salted cod. The brines were prepared from combinations of the Ca, Mg, and K ions and sodium chloride (NaCl) at pH 6.5 and 8.5. Additionally, 3 salts (one composed solely of NaCl, another commercial sea salt from the southern Europe and, finally, a natural salt from northern Europe) were also tested. Principal component analysis structured the chemical and microbiology data in 3 clusters: (1) an extreme cluster, formed by cod brined in the commercial sea salt, which achieved the highest microbiological counts, namely 4.1 log CFU/g on plate count agar (PCA) and 1250 coliforms/g; (2) an intermediate cluster composed of cod salted in brine containing 50% NaCl, 0.4% MgCl2, and 49.6% KCl (pH 6.5); and (3) a central cluster, including all the other treatments, which presented the lowest microbiological counts, namely 2.4 log CFU/g on PCA and 20 coliforms/g. Although the batches of the intermediate cluster presented slightly higher total viable and staphylococci counts than the central cluster, the presence of Mg and K ions improved the color of the salted product. In the assayed concentrations, CaCl2, MgCl2, and KCl can be used in the brining of cod without adversely affecting the microbiological and sensory quality of the salted cod.

A novel process for obtaining smoke-flavoured salmon using water vapour permeable bags

“…Tests were done with the semi-structured scales (AENOR, 2006) by which attributes such as appearance, colour, odour, intensity of smoke odour, taste, intensity of saltiness and global acceptance were evaluated. These attributes were selected as being the most important and representative for both industry and consumers (Rodrigues et al, 2005cited by Fuentes et al, 2010b. Each assessor answered a questionnaire with 8 cm lines and three anchor points (0 = unpleasant, 4 = acceptable, and 8 = pleasant) for all the attributes, except for smoke odour and saltiness intensity, where the anchors corresponded to insufficient, optimum, and excessive (0, 4, and 8, respectively).…”

Development of a smoked sea bass product with partial sodium replacement

“…These attributes were selected as being the most representative and important for industry and consumers (Rodrigues et al, 2005).…”

“…However, sodium replacement related to fish products has only been studied for a few salted products: such as salted cod (Martínez-Alvarez, Borderías, & Gómez-Guillén, 2005;Rodrigues, Ho, López-Caballero, Bandarra, & Nunes, 2005).…”

A COMPARISON OF BASIC TASTE MODALITIES, USING A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE, FOR VARYING LEVELS OF SODIUM AND KCl IN TWO MODEL SOUP SYSTEMS

“…1991), meat products (Olson and Terrell 1981), sausage (Totosaus et al. 2004), brined cod (Rodriguez et al. 2005), broths (Pangborn and Braddock 1989), cheeses (Fitzgerald and Buckley 1985; Anjan Reddy and Marth 1993; Katsiari et al.…”