Comparison of Changes in Trimethylamine, Dimethylamine, and Extractable Protein in Iced and Frozen Gadoid Fillets

Abstract

When fillets of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), pollock (Pollachius virens), cusk (Brosme brosme), and silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) were iced and the opposite fillets frozen, large amounts of trimethylamine were rapidly produced in the iced fish but none was formed in the frozen fish within 60 days. Hake produced large, similar amounts of dimethylamine (DMA) in iced and frozen fillets. The other three species produced more DMA in the frozen than in the iced fillets, but always much less than in the hake. In both frozen and iced fish the production of DMA was accompanied by a corresponding decrease in extractable protein nitrogen.