Abstract
Quality changes in Atlantic mackerel fillets during superchilled, chilled and frozen storage focusing on lipid quality, colour and changes in low molecular weight metabolites relevant for quality and safety were studied. Low formation of oxidation products was observed in chilled (up to 7 days), superchilled (up to 14 days) and frozen storage (up to one year). Only slight formation of TBARS was measured in the samples which correlated with the increasing fillet yellowness. The profile of low molecular weight compounds, analysed by high‐resolution NMR, showed clear grouping of the different samples according to both treatment and storage time. The increase in K‐value was highest in the chilled samples, reaching a K‐value of 93 ± 3% on day 5, exceeding the proposed limit of human consumption (80%) while superchilling reached a K‐value of ca 90 % after 14 days. Frozen samples showed acceptable quality in the whole storage period.