The results are given of trials conducted to determine the effect on quality of holding fish (Lutjanus species) in chilled freshwater and also to compare the quality loss of fish stored in chilled seawater and chilled freshwater and in ice. No adverse effects were observed when storing in chilled freshwater apart from loss of external appearance after 6 days storage; taste panel tests showed acceptable conditions up to 15 days. Chilled seawater is unsuitable for storage as it spoils the intake of salt from the medium, making the flesh unpalatable

Jayaweera, V.

Poulter, R.G.

Aquatic Commons

J. NARA, 31, (1984) 57-63 
Storage of Snapper anus Spp.) 
Ice, Sea Water and Chilled Fresh 
By 
V. JAYA WEERA * and R. G. PoULTER** 
ABSTRACT 
Refrigerated Sea \Vater (RSvV) and Chilled Sea Water (CSV/) Systems are used in 
many countries in handling ]arge catches of pehgic fish, most effectivdy. These systems are 
used mainly on purse seiners which catch very ~arge quantities of pelagic fish. Chilling 
of such quantities of fish using ice and boxes is practically very difficult and time consuming. 
The CS1N Systems consist of an insulated tank in which a kno•Nn quantity of ice is placed 
(1 ton of ice: 1 ton of fish). At the fishing grounds the tank is pa.rtiaUy fiUed with sea 
·water and the fish is placed in the tank and the whole system agitated by compressed air 
to facilitate even cooling (Petersen et a!, 1977). vVith CS'\V or RS'N Systems speed of transfer and 
rate of chiHing the catch is greater than that achieved by conventional icing and the effort 
required to Joad and unload the catch, which can be done by suction pump, is less (Eddie 
& Hopper, 1974). An added advantage iis that the fish can be cooled to just above its 
freezing point (-1°C), a temperature lower than that attained by using ice, thus reducing 
even further the spoilage caused by biochemical and physical processes (Petersen et al 1977). 
Further more, in RSW and C3W Systems the fish is less susce}tible to crushing and it has 
also been noted that the weight loss is less and that the flesh retains its firmness for a 
longer period. 
The Ceylon Fisheries Corporation (CFC) :i.n Colombo has used refrigerated fresh water 
tanks, to preserve fish landed in Colombo for a further period of 3 to 4 days. These are 
fish which have been captured about 14 to 17 days prior to landing and usuaHy form a 
mixed demersal catch. RSW & CSW storage has bee;ll used on occasions when it has not 
been possible to process the fish immediately (Poulter, 1979). The work presented here was 
carried out to determine the effect on quality of holdhg fish in chilled Fresh water and also 
to compare the quality loss of :fish stored in CS'W, CF'\V and in ice. To simulate conditions 
at CFC, fish after landing was used for the experiment. Refrigerated tanks were not available 
at the Institute of Fish Technology where this work was carried out, and hence two insulated 
barrels were used to hold the CS'N and CFW. 
Materials and lVIetbods 
Two insulated barrels, 48 em. diameter and 45 em. height were used for the chilled 
Sea Water and Chilled Fresh Water Systems. The Capacity of each barrel was 1.84 M 3 • 
* Institute of Fish Technology, NARA, Crow Island, Colombo 15. 
** Trophical Products Institute, 56/62 Gray's Inn Road, London; England. 
THE STORAGE OF RJED SNAPPER (LUTJANUS SPP.) IN ICE,- CHILLED 59 
Fish Samples 
Storage trials were carried out with Red Snapper (Lutjanus sp.) bought from the fish 
landing site in Negombo. It has to be assumed that the fish was kept at am )ient temperature 
for about 6-8 hours, before it was bought and iced immediately on purchase. The fish 
was brought to IFT and divided into 3 groups; Group A (15 kg) was iced, Group B (16.5kg) 
was placed in an insulated barrel which contained 16 kg of ice and sea water and the contents 
were stirred intermittently till the fish cooled. Group C (15.5 kg) was placed in the other 
insulated barrel with 15 kg of ice and fresh water and also stirred as Group B. To maintain 
the temperature in the insulated barrels, ice and water (sea and fresh) had to be renewed 
daily, and also fresh ice was put on the fish in ice (Group A). 
At set intervals, samples of fish were taken from the 3 containers for assessment of 
Organoleptic acceptance (raw and cooked), Total Volatile Nitrogen, Trimethyl Amine, salt 
and moisture content and the Total Bacterial count (TBC). 
At each sampling interval (once in 3 days) the sample of fish was first examined visually 
and sub samples taken for TBC: the rest of the fish were fiUeted, skinned and a portion was 
taken for taste-panel assessments and the rest minced to prepare extracts for the chemical 
analysis. 
Visual Examination 
The shape and colour of the eyes, colour and odour of the gills, skin and texture of 
the raw whole fish was examined. 
Determination of Total Bacterial Count 
Fish flesh (10 g) was weighed aseptically into a Sterile blender jar (MSE homogeniser), 
sterile peptone ':>~.rater (90 ml) \Yas added and the contents homogenised for 30 seconds. Ten 
fold serial dilutions were made and 1 ml placed on petri dishes: Nutrient agar (10 mO was 
poured, contents mixed and the plates were incubated at 30°C for 3 days and soc for 
days. Duplicate sampling was carried out. 
Taste panel assessment 
The fiHets were washed and sealed in polythene bags and cooked in boiling water for 
10 minutes and judged by each panel member for odour. flavour, texture and overall quality, 
A 0-10 Hedonic scale was used where the limit of acceptability is 4. 
Total Volatile basefTrimethyl amine content 
The Conway-Byrnes methods (Beatty and Gibbons, 1937) was used to determine total 
volatile bases. Sampling was done in duplicate with 125 gm fish and 375 ml water being 
used to make the required samples of 100 gm. 
Salt content 
The salt content was determined in duplicate by the method (19.030) of the Association 
of Official analytical Chemists on 2 g samples of the mince (Horwitz, 1980). 
Moisture content 
2 of iish was weighed into a dry weighed crucible, and placed m the drying oven 
(llO oc) for 24 hours, cooled and re-weighed. 
V. JAYAWEERA AND R. G. POULTER 
Resclts & Discussion 
The results are presented in Tables 1-5 and in Fig. 1. Overall the results indicate 
tide difference in the three storage media during the first week of storage. This may be 
due to the storage media being renewed each day, thereby removing surface decomposition 
ar.d bacterial metabolic products. In practice however, this is difficult to do and a slightly 
higher rate of spoilage could be expected in both CSW and CFW systems, because the fish 
would then be soaked in a medium suited for growth of psychrophilic bacteria. In iced 
fish, the melted water removes a portion of the surface bacterial metabolic products. 
The taste-panel scores (Table 1) indicate that the fish kept in Chilled Sea V/ater 
aCSW was unacceptable first (after 18 days), and the fish in ice and CF'V was unacceptable 
at the end of 20 days. After the 9th day in storage the fish lost its fresh2ess and the quality 
deteriorated. Previous expe,.:i.ments too have sh::lwn. that Red Snapper kept at an acceptable 
even for 3 weeks in ice (Putiwaranart & Merican, 1978). 
The visual examination showed that the fish stored in ice maintained a good condition 
for the first 6 days. On the 9th day the eyes of the fish were grey and convex, and the 
kins were bleached of colour and smelt stale or sour, and the flesh slighdy soft. The fish 
kept in CS~/ and CFW lost appearance from about the 3rd day in 3torage, as the eyes 
bulged out and the skin and the gi!ls were bleached of colour. Though they were not good 
to look at the fish was found to be quite acceptab!e by the taste panel. 
TABLE 1 
AVERAGE TASTiEJPANNEL SCORE OF FISH 
STORED IN ICE, CSW AND CFW 
~
Days in storage STORAGE MEDIUM 
. Ice csw CFW 
1 8.0 8.1 8.5 
3 7.5 6.0 7.2 
6 6.8 7.4 6.6 
9 7.3 7.0 5.9 
12 5.5 6.2 5.6 
15 5.6 5.4 5.7 
19 4.7 3.8 5.3 
22 2.5 2.0 2.3 
The rejection of the fish stored in cs'v 'NaS mainly due to the high salt intake of 
the fish, for panel members found it too salty, and therefore ~naceptable (Ta_ble 2). The 
panel members first detected the salt on the 9th day (salt-1.02 %) and found 1t to be too 
salty on the 15th day (sah-1.38 %). This has been observed previously by others who found 
the salt intake to be greater in eviscerated fish. A salt content of 1 % was found to be the 
most palatable amount (Roach et a! 1967) .. Fish with a low. f3;t ~ontent (b _Red. Sna~per 
its less than 2.0%), tend to absorb salt excessJVe]y and thereby hm1t tne storage time m C:iJW. 
THE STORA .. GJB O:F RED SNAPPER (LUTJANUS SPP.) IN ICE,- CHILLED 
'f.ARLE 2 
PERCENTAGE SALT CONTENT OF THE FISI-I STORED TI"f ICE, CSW AND CF\Y 
Day in Storage 
1 
3 
6 
9 
12 
15 
19 
22 
STORAGE MEDIUM 
Ice csw CFW 
0.29 0.34 0.34 
0.27 0.56 0.28 
0.20 0.76 0.18 
0.25 1.02 0.12 
0.16 0.02 0.08 
0.14 1.38 0.06 
O.B 1.36 0.09 
0.06 1.72 0.02 
61 
The moisture contents (Table 3) of the fish were determined to find whether they 
gained or lost water. The results are scattered and except for a slight increase in the fish 
kept in CFV\1, there does not seem to be a marked change in the ffi:)i:;t~ure content. OveraU, 
the fish in all three media .have gained a little moisture. Results obtained by Smith et 
(1980) do not s.hov,r a marked change in the water content. 
TABLE 3 
PERCENTAGE MOISTURE CONTENT OF THE :FISH 
STORED I..l\J ICE, CSW A.l'ID CFW 
Day in storage STORAGE MEDIUM 
Ice csw GFW 
1 78.4 78.2 78.8 
3 79.8 79.4 79.3 
6 79.9 72.7 81.1 
9 76.9 79.6 82.5 
12 79.1 81.4 84.1 
15 80.4 81.5 83.9 
19 81.3 82.3 83.0 
22 81.8 82.1 83.7 
62 
~~ b"'{fj !Oe 
~ ~e 
~w 0.-~ 3e"e 
~ !1)01[: 
~w l'-"~~ ~@~ 
~ll~~ ~f~ 
2~~~-----._.~--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
1 2 3 4 S 6 1 S 9 11.0 .11 12 l3 ~4 i'!i iG ~.7 1& !9 ~ 21 22 
NO. o::- OAVS iN ICE 
Fig. 1 -Bacteriological counts of fish stored in ice, CSW and CFW 
THE STORAGE OF RED SNAPPER (LUTJANUS SPP.) IN ICE,- CHitLLED 63 
The Total Volatile Nitrogen (TV!~) and Trimethylamine (TMA) results for aU three 
media (Tables 4 and 5) are scattered but they show a sharp increase after the 15th day of 
storage. There is some correlation between the taste panel scores and the TMA results. 
TMA values remain low tin about the 12th day in storage, and from the 15th day (near 
the end of acceptability) the values rise sharply. Previous experiments with Red Snapper 
has shown a similar correlation between Taste panel scores and TMA values (Putiwaranart 
& Mre:·ican 1978). Some workers have observed that at a TMA value of 8-10 mg/lOOg, off 
flavours are detected and the fish found unacceptable, (Boyd of 1971). In this experiment the 
fish kept in ice is found to be unacceptabJe v11hen the TMA level is about 5.0mg/100g. But 
the fish kept in CSW is acceptable at a higher TiviA level. The TMA level of the fish kept 
in CFW is very low at unacceptability. Therefore it is not possible to indicate a TMA value 
at which spoilage is evident. But the TVN value is between 20-30 mgjlOOg at spoilage in 
aU three storage media. As is the caro:e in many species of fish, in this too the TVN and 
TMA indicate the spoilage rather than the freshness of the fish. 
The bacteriological counts incubated at 30°C are considerably scattered at the begining 
but increases sharply after 15 days storage (Fig. 1). But the psychrophilic c::mnt (incubated 
at 5°C) showed a gradual increase tiU the 9th day and thereafter a sharp L1crease for the 
:fish stored in ice. The counts on the fish in CFW remained very low for the first week, a11d 
increased rapidly after 6 day. It is difficult to draw any correlation between bacteriological 
counts and taste panel scores, but a bacterial count incuba:ted at 5°C gives a better indication 
of the bacterial flora that spoils the fish. 
TARLE 4l 
TOTAL VOLATKLJE N1TiROGEN CONTENT OF FISH 
STORED IN ICE, CSW AND CFW (mg TVN/lOOg FISH) 
Days in storage 
1 
3 
6 
9 
12 
15 
19 
22 
STO.l!UGE MEDIUM 
Ice csw CFW 
20.25 18.78 17.64 
15.51 12.71 13.20 
19.53 13.24 14.14 
26.39 24.94 15.66 
19.74 19.74 13.75 
18.74 31.87 12.02 
31.45 28.04 14.18 
30.57 35.39 20.20 
TABLE 5 
TffiMETHYL AJ'\iffi''IE CONTENT OF FISI-I STORED 
IN ICE, CSW AND CFW (mg TMA/100g FISH) 
Days in storage STORAGE MEDIUM 
ice csw CFW 
1 0.65 0.65 0.65 
3 1.29 1.72 2.58 
6 2.10 1.37 1.61 
9 1.30 7.B 1.14 
12 1.31 5.49 1.31 
15 1.98 15.68 
19 4.55 18.20 2.76 
22 7.73 19.79 3.96 
64 V. JAYAWEERA AND R. G. POULTER 
The results indicate that there are no adverse effects in storing Lutjanus sp (even after 
a delay of about 6-8 hours after catching) in chilled fresh water except that external appearance 
is lost :in about 6 days of storage. Though it loses external appearance, it is acceptable 
(taste panel) for about 15 clays. This fish species cannot be stored in chilled sea water for 
long, because, before it spoils the intake of salt from the medium, makes the flesh unpalatable. 
Acknowledgements 
The authors wish to thank Mrs. R. Samaradivakara, of Institute of Fish Technology 
for helping with the laboratory analysis. 
REFERENCE 
BEATTY, S. A., ad GmBONs, N. E. (1937) 
The measuremel1lt of spoilage :in fish. J. Biol, Bd, Canada3(1) : 77-91. 
BoYD, N. S. (1971) 
Report on the development of pre packaged ''Net fish. Report No. 1, Food Tech, Dept., lvfassey University. 
EDDllE G. C., and HOPPER, A. G. {1974) 
Containerized storage on Fish vessels using CSW cooling. Fishery Products. Edit, R. Kreuzer, Fishing News 
(Books) Ltd. 69 - 74. 
HORWITZ, W. (1980) 
13th Edition Official rviethods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists AOAC, 
Washington, Edition p. 310. 
PETERSEN, E. T., Hansen, P. and FELDSTEDT B. (1977) 
New Catch Handling System Aboard Chileal1l Trawlers. Fishing Ne1-vs Intemo.tional March, 1917. 
POULTER, R. G. (1979) 
Chilled Sea Water Systems and the handling of fish by the CFC (Colombo) Trawlers. Unpublished internal 
report - Institute of Fish Technology, Mattakkuliya, Sri Lanka. 
PUTIWARANART, J. and MlERl!:CAN Z. (1978) 
Quality changes during storage of Red Snapper (Lutian.us sp) in ice at ooc and uniced at+ 7°C. FAO 
DAJ'.IIDA Workshop on Fish Technology and Inspection Colombo, Sri Lanka (1978) 
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Sw.LITH, J. G. M., HARDY, R. McDoNALD, I. and TEMPLETON, J. (1980) 
The storage of Herring (Ciupea harengus) in Ice, Refrigerated Sea Water and at Ambient Temperatunre, 
Chemical :md sensory Assessmel1lt, J. Sci., Food Agric., Vol 31 No. 4 p, 375-385. 


The storage of red snapper (Lutjanus spp.) in ice, chilled sea water and chilled fresh water

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The storage of red snapper (Lutjanus spp.) in ice, chilled sea water and chilled fresh water

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