Low-Field NMR and MRI to Analyze the Effect of Edible Coating Incorporated with MAP on Qualities of Half-Smooth Tongue Sole (Cynoglossus Semilaevis Günther) Fillets during Refrigerated Storage

Abstract

Nondestructive and fast measurement and characterization of fish is highly desired during various processing treatments. This research investigated the effectiveness of low field LF-NMR and MRI as fast monitoring techniques to estimate the qualities of half-smooth tongue sole fillets treated with edible coating combined with modified atmosphere packaging during refrigeration. T2 relaxation spectra showed three peaks representing bound water (T21), immobile water (T22), and free water (T23), respectively. pT22 accounted for the largest proportion of three types of water, followed by pT23. The weighted MRI provided the internal structure information associated with different samples, indicting the combination of edible coating and MAP (70% CO2 + 30% N2) is the best performance in the maintenance of qualities and freshness of HTS fillets. All results demonstrated that the combination of LF-NMR and MRI as fast and nondestructive methods have great potential to monitor qualities deterioration and predict shelf life in of HTS fillets during refrigerated storage.