Shelf life of several marine fish species of Bangladesh during ice storage

Summary Organoleptic, biochemical and bacteriological aspects of five tropical marine fish such as silver jewfish, Bombay duck, big‐eye tuna, Chinese pomfret and ribbon fish stored in ice were studied. Organoleptically all fish were found acceptable for 10–13 days before becoming inedible. Proximate analysis showed that moisture content increased slightly; protein and lipid content decreased gradually and ash had little or no significant change. pH, TVB‐N, peroxide and aerobic plate count values increased with increasing storage period but the values were within acceptable range up to 10 days of storage. Changes in myofibrillar ATPase activity and solubility of these fishes showed that Ca2+ ATPase in the presence of both 0.1 m and 0.5 m KCl decreased gradually whereas no marked changes were observed in the Mg+2 ATPase activities in the presence/absence of Ca+2. Myofibrillar protein solubility of all fish samples also decreased considerably during ice storage. The decrement in Ca2+ ATPase activity and solubility indicates denaturation of myofibrillar protein of fish samples during ice storage.