Effect of high pressure processing and cooking treatment on the quality of Atlantic salmon

The effect of high pressure treatment (HPP) (150 MPa and 300 MPa for 15 min) and cooking on quality of Atlantic salmon based on microbial activity, lipid oxidation, fatty acid profile, colour and texture during 6 days of storage was studied. High pressure and cooking significantly (p 0.05) reduced microbial growth. The 300 MPa treatment and cooking showed higher L* and b* values but lower a* values for dark muscle compared to control and samples treated at 150 MPa. An increase in pressure resulted in an increase in hardness, gumminess and chewiness parameters, and a decrease in adhesiveness compared to control and cooked samples. Whereas cooking and 150 MPa led to similar oxidation development as control in dark muscle, the 300 MPa treatment effectively reduced the samples susceptibility to oxidation. Fatty acid profile of cooked Atlantic salmon dark muscle showed significantly (p 0.05) lower amounts of total saturated, n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and n-6 PUFA and significantly (p 0.05) higher amounts of monoenes than HPP treated samples during the entire storage period. However, the most important finding Of this Study was that there was no significant (p > 0.05) difference between control and HPP treated samples in terms of total saturated, monoenes, n-3 PUFA and n-6 PUFA fatty acid profile. This demonstrates that HPP is a very mild process in terms of its effect on fatty acids. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.