Quality Changes and Safety Evaluation of Ready-to-Eat Roasted Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba) During Storage at Room Temperature (25°C).

The objective of this study was to determine the quality changes and shelf life of ready-to-eat roasted Antarctic krill, either untreated (CT) or treated with sodium diacetate (SD) or sodium diacetate and a deoxidizer (SDD), during storage at room temperature (25°C) by using sensory, physiochemical, and microbial assessment. Additionally, fluoride accumulation in this food product was used to evaluate its safety. Analysis showed that the addition of SD and SDD resulted in better sensory scores compared of that of CT samples (P <0.05). Accordingly, microorganism growth and total basic nitrogen (TVB-N) were maintained at a low level for the duration of storage with SD and SDD treatments. The total viable counts of SD and SDD reached (4.58 ± 0.08) log (CFU g⁻¹) and (4.20 ± 0.11) log (CFU g⁻¹), respectively. The mold was found after 6 and 18 days for SD and SDD treatment, and the numbers reached 5.2 × 10⁶ and 8.5 × 10⁴ respectively at the end of shelf life. The TVB-N values from CT continuously increased during the whole storage. While TVB-N values from SD and SDD remained significantly less change (P <0.05) during the early 20 days of the storage, and the values reached (12.11 ± 0.07) mg (100 g)⁻¹ and (10.88 ± 0.15) mg (100 g)⁻¹ on day 33 and day 70, respectively. Importantly, SDD treatment effectively minimized the oxidation values and retained the color of ready-to-eat roasted Antarctic krill. Our results showed that the shelf life of ready-to-eat roasted Antarctic krill treated with SDD was extended by up to 52 days. Additionally, rats fed ready-to-eat roasted Antarctic krill showed accumulation of fluoride exclusively in the thighbone. The accumulation of fluoride residues in the thighbone showed concentration-dependent. The concentrations of fluoride residues in rats were (1760.03 ± 38.21), (2371.52 ± 42.15) mg kg⁻¹ and (3615.44 ± 30.53) mg kg⁻¹, which were less than sodium fluoride feeding group (4621.01 ± 28.67) mg kg⁻¹. The results suggested that the SD and SDD treatments led to better quality and shelf life extension of ready-to-eat roasted Antarctic krill during storage at room temperature (25°C). Therefore, the ready-to-eat roasted Antarctic krill can be of great interest to the seafood industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]