Preserving Fish Quality Through Intense Pulsed Light: Microbial Inactivation and Atp Degradation Control

Abstract

In this study, six types of fish were treated with intense pulsed light (IPL) with a total energy fluences of 3.6–28.4 J/cm2 and the maximum microbial inactivation levels of six fish were shown 1.23–1.85 log. Also, K1 value and hypoxanthine ratio were measured to confirm the degree of decay by storage period according to the energy fluences of IPL. In all six species of fish, there was a section where the accumulation of hypoxanthine was delayed, and on day 10 of red seabream, there was a maximum reduction of 74.9% compared to control at 17.1 J/cm2. Meanwhile, irradiating excessively large energy fluences of IPL can rather promote deterioration of freshness in fish during storage period. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the treatment conditions of IPL that minimize the acceleration of ATP degradation while maximize the microbial inactivation.

Keywords: Intense pulsed light, fish, microorganisms, K1 value, hypoxanthine ratio