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Use of the voltammetric tongue in fresh cod (Gadus morhua) quality assessment

2013; Elsevier BV; Volume: 18; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.ifset.2012.12.010

1878-5522

María Ruiz‐Rico, Ana Fuentes, Rafael Masot, Miguel Alcañíz, Isabel Fernández‐Segovia, José Manuel Barat Baviera,

Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques

The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of the voltammetric tongue in the shelf-life assessment of fresh cod in cold storage. For this purpose, physico-chemical and microbial analyses were carried out, as well as measurements with the electronic tongue. The samples exceeded the acceptability limits of total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), mesophilic and Enterobacteriaceae on the fourth day of storage, which means that the fish had a shelf-life of less than 4 days. The voltammetric tongue was able to differentiate between days 0 and 1 of storage from the other days. These results are in accordance with those obtained in the physico-chemical and microbial analyses, which showed a clear loss of freshness from day 0 to day 4. In the models obtained with partial least squares for TVB-N and mesophilic counts, the predicted values were successfully fitted to the experimental values, which confirm the potential usefulness of the voltammetric tongue for assessing cod spoilage. Shelf-life assessment of fresh fish is of great interest for consumers, industries and authorities. The current methods used for this purpose are tedious, expensive, time-consuming and require skilled personnel. Therefore, the development of rapid non-destructive quality control techniques, which can be applied at any stage of the supply chain, could be highly interesting. This paper describes the possible application of a voltammetric tongue to assess cod spoilage during cold storage. This technique could be used as a rapid and non-destructive method applicable to routine quality control at any stage of the supply chain.