Fish Products and Byproducts Technology

Unit 1- Principles of Fish Preservation

1.3. Seafood spoilage
What is seafood spoilage?
Physical or biochemical deterioration of breakdown of tissue makes the fish unfit for human consumption
Fish is highly perishable. Why?
All the food commodities are perishable. But fish is highly perishable. Because

• High moisture
• Low glycogen reservoir leads to postmortem pH near neutral favors the Microbial growth
• Low connective tissue makes the major protein more susceptible to proteolytic degradation
• Highly unsaturated fatty acids more prone to oxidation
• High content of non protein nitrogenous compounds

What are all the causes of seafood spoilage and intrinsic characteristics of fish that supports the causes?

Note: Other animals’ meat have post mortem pH in acid range, compared to fish muscle and high connective tissue content delay the degradation of protein by endogenous proteases as well as secreted from bacterial origin.

What is the result of seafood spoilage?