Quality assessment of blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) during chilled storage by monitoring lipid damages

Different kinds of lipid damage indices (peroxide value, conjugated diene index, thiobarbituric acid index, free fatty acid content, polyene index, and fluorescent compound formation) were studied during the chilled storage (0 degrees C) of a lean fish species (blue whiting, Micromesistius poutassou) and compared to total volatile base-nitrogen content(TVB-N). Similar to previous results regarding a fatty fish species (sardine), fluorescence detection of interaction compounds calculated as the ratio between fluorescence measured at 393/463 nm and that at 327/415 nM showed the best correlation with TVB-N evolution and provided the highest independent contribution to Dime prediction during chilled storage. Present results indicate that this fluorescence detection is sensitive enough for assessing freshness loss during chilling of a lean fish species and appears to be the equal if not the superior of a recognized method such as TVB-N to assess fish spoilage.