Relationship Between Water Migration and Quality Changes of Yellowfin Tuna (<i>Thunnus albacares</i>) During Storage at 0°C and 4°C by LF-NMR

Abstract

This study investigated postmortem changes of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and water migration upon storage at 0°C and 4°C as determined by low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR 1H). It clearly showed that with increasing storage time, sensory scores and physical evaluations (hardness, chewiness), proton density of the water, and moisture content decreased, while total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), K value, aerobic plate counts (APCs), and psychrotrophic bacterial counts increased. The results of LF-NMR showed that T21 (trapped water) had extremely significant correlations with sensory evaluation, texture profile analysis, TVB-N, K value, APC, and psychrotrophic bacteria (p < 0.01) and established multiple linear regression. It was concluded that the LF-NMR was an important technique to evaluate storage time and temperature of yellowfin tuna’s quality in terms of water migration during low-temperature storage.