Impact of different air blast freezing conditions on the physicochemical quality of albacore (Thunnus alalunga) pretreated by high pressure processing

The aim of this work was to study the effect of different air blast freezing conditions (temperature: −20 °C, air velocity: 1 m/s; −20 °C, 5 m/s; −50 °C, 1 m/s; −50 °C, 5 m/s) on the quality of high pressure processing (HPP) pretreated (200 MPa, 6 min) albacore steaks. After 2 and 9 months of frozen storage, HPP and control samples were thawed and analyzed (thawing loss, cooking loss, total weight loss, color, texture profile, salt-soluble protein content and lipid oxidation). The HPP pretreatment had more impact on the albacore quality than lowering the freezing temperature or increasing the air velocity. For instance, after 9 months of frozen storage, the HPP pretreated samples before freezing under the slowest (−20 °C and 1 m/s) and the fastest (−50 °C and 5 m/s) freezing conditions presented similar thawing loss reductions (37 and 40%, respectively) with respect to their corresponding controls. Considering the conditions and parameters tested, HPP pretreatment (200 MPa, 6 min) followed by a freezing at −50 °C (at 1 or 5 m/s) would achieve the best results in albacore after up to 9 months of frozen storage. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd