Improved Hot Smoke Processing of Chub Mackerel (Scomber japonicus) Promotes Sensorial, Physicochemical and Microbiological Characteristics

Abstract

Chub mackerel (CM), Scomber japonicus, is a commercially important fish species in pacific countries including South Korea and its rapid quality deterioration by various spoilage mechanisms while marketed has been reported, leading to a dramatic decline of the market price. To overcome this problem, a combination of superheated steam roasting (270 °C for 4 min) and hot smoking (70 °C) on CM fillets was applied to impart extending shelf-life at the market level. Using different sawdust with time-dependent smoking revealed that Oak sawdust at 25 min of optimized smoking time significantly (p < 0.05) provided the highest sensory properties (appearance, odor, color, texture and overall preferences), improved physicochemical, microbial, and nutritional properties, and subsequently, promoted shelf life of processed CM during the storage period at 10 °C for up to 34 days. Moreover, the processed CM offered high nutritional value, especially, essential and non-essential amino acids were found to be 13.14 and 15.48 g/100 g of CM fillets, and also reduced the trimethylamine-N-oxide level to an acceptable limit, indicating its quality and safety with high nutritional standards to end-point users upon consumption.