Effect of Brine Concentrations on the Bacteriological and Chemical Quality and Histamine Content of Brined and Dried Milkfish

Abstract

In this research, the occurrence of hygienic quality and histamine in commercial brined and dried milkfish products, and the effects of brine concentrations on the quality of brined and dried milkfish, were studied. Brined and dried milkfish products (n = 20) collected from four retail stores in Taiwan were tested to investigate their histamine-related quality. Among them, five tested samples (25%, 5/20) had histamine contents of more than 5 mg/100 g, the United States Food and Drug Administration guidelines for scombroid fish, while two (10%, 2/20) contained 69 and 301 mg/100 g of histamine, exceeding the 50 mg/100 g potential hazard level. In addition, the effects of brine concentrations (0%, 3%, 6%, 9%, and 15%) on the chemical and bacteriological quality of brined and dried milkfish during sun-drying were evaluated. The results showed that the aerobic plate count (APC), coliform, water activity, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN), and histamine content values of the brined and dried milkfish samples decreased with increased brine concentrations, whereas those of salt content and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) increased with increasing brine concentrations. The milkfish samples prepared with 6% NaCl brine had better quality with respect to lower APC, TVBN, TBA, and histamine levels.

Optimal level of added salt to minimize the risk of associated chemical hazards of small-sized anchovy (Stolephorus indicus) stored at ambient and refrigerated temperatures

“…On the other hand, the histamine levels of samples stored at ambient temperature were dependent on the added salt level (p < 0.05). The higher the level of salt added, the lower the histamine content accumulated, which was in good agreement with Hwang et al (2012Hwang et al ( , 2020. Salting fish at 8% w/w or higher significantly delayed histamine formation to below 2 mg/100 g up to 5 hr storage (p < 0.05).…”

“…Positive correlations existed between histamine and pH and water activity in all ripening temperatures studied in salted Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda), while negative correlations were noted between histamine and ripening time, salt content and WPS (Ormanci and Colakoglu, 2017). However, no correlation existed between the WPS of iced storage samples and the histamine content, and the WPS of iced storage samples and the TMA content, which could be explained by bacterial growth inhibition by salting, as described by Turan et al (2007), Yeannes (2010, 2013), Hwang et al (2012Hwang et al ( , 2020 and Mohamed et al (2016), in combination with low temperature storage that allowed very low histamine and TMA accumulations during 5 hr of refrigerated storage.…”

“…The higher the salt added, the lower the quality parameters, such as aerobic plate count, total coliform, water activity, moisture content, TVBN and thiobarbituric acid accumulated in dried milkfish (Hwang et al, 2012). Negative correlations were noted between salt content and water activity (r = -0.92, p < 0.05) and salt content and histamine (r = -0.95, p < 0.05) of brined and dried milkfish products, regardless of the brine concentration (Hwang et al, 2020). Bacterial growth was mostly inhibited during ripening of salted anchovy (E. encrasicholus) according to Mohamed et al (2016).…”

Quality Improvement in Mackerel Fillets Caused by Brine Salting Combined with High-Pressure Processing

“…However, as people’s eating habits change, lightly salt-brined products are gaining popularity among consumers. Hence, aquatic product processors often use brine salting to make lightly brined products [ 8 ]. Recently, hurdle technology that combines several physical and chemical treatments has turned into a new tendency in food processing and is often used to replace chemical preservatives and biocides [ 9 ].…”

“…In this study, mackerel fillets were immersed in 3% and 9% brine at 4 °C for 90 min and then processed under 300, 400, 500, and 600 MPa for 5 min to observe the impacts in microbial and physicochemical characteristics. In this experiment, a high salt concentration of 9% was used to simulate the conventional processing method of salted mackerel, while a low salt concentration of 3% was used to fulfil the current trend among people who prefer lightly salted food [ 8 ].…”