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In this work, the incidence of H. morrhuae in salted-ripened anchovy products was assessed. Moreover, the microbial biochemical activity possible related with sensorial and physicochemical changes that takes place during the process was explored. A type strain of H. morrhuae (ATCC 17082) was used as reference and a detailed phenotypic characterization of the species was carried out. Samples of salted-ripened anchovy taken from barrels at the end of ripening (78) and fillets of salted-ripened anchovy (22) were analysed for microbial counts and isolation of presumptively H. morrhuae colonies. Cluster analysis of the biochemical tests revealed that none of the 38 isolated strains with colony morphology and cell arrangement similar to the type strain would be classified as H. morrhuae. However, a number of the isolated strains were very closely related with the H. morrhuae type strain, for which it could correspond other species of the genus Halocuccus. A remarkable result is that a high percentage of the isolates were proteolytic and/or lypolitic, capable to decarboxylase amino acids and produce indol and H2S. These activities, depending on the intensity, can be directly related with the expected physicochemical changes that occur during ripening or even with quality loss and spoilage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to develop a list of descriptors to evaluate smoked mackerel fillets combining brine salting with cold smoking at 22 or 28°C by the conventional sensory profile method and to analyze their consumer acceptance. The samples were investigated by eight descriptive panelists for aroma and flavor attributes before further evaluated by sixty-five consumers for acceptance levels. The trained panel was efficient since judges managed to point out the differences between products, indicating a consensual and discriminative panel performance. Samples treated at 28°C were scored higher in aroma descriptors than at 22°C, while these last ones showed high values in flavor descriptors. Consistent with the descriptive panel, the evaluation by the consumers showed the smoked mackerel samples were comparable to the commercial liquid smoke salmon being no significant difference (p>0.05) found in acceptability scores. The sample smoked at 22°C was the favorite according to the preference s) consumer test. The results obtained in the present study were highly positive and encouraging that both developed products were accepted by the consumer and had higher preference or equivalent to the one commercial product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]