Keeping Time of Frozen Redfish (Sebastes marinus mentella) Fillets in Relation to Handling of the Raw Material and Storage Temperatures after Processing and Freezing
The effect of various periods of prefreezing storage for iced, whole redfish (Sebastes marinus mentella) on the frozen-storage keeping times (at −23 C) of the fillets and the effect of various periods of fillet storage at temperatures equal to and higher than −23 C are reported. The fish were caught on the Grand Bank and on Banquereau in May and June. Assessment was by taste panel with chemical tests for protein solubility, rancidity, and pH made for purposes of comparison.Fish iced 2 days, then processed and frozen, were of acceptable quality for 83–94 weeks; those iced for 12 days, then filleted and frozen, had a storage life to unacceptability of 51 weeks. Samples processed and frozen after 4 days in ice and subjected to variation in temperature (−23 C; −12 C) during initial frozen storage, then stored at a final temperature of −18 C, as in transportation aboard a refrigerated vessel and in cold storages used in the marketing chain, had initial quality characteristics similar to fish iced for 12 days (then processed and frozen) but had a shorter storage life to unacceptability, 44 weeks. Fish iced 15 days were unacceptable for freezing.