Assessment of the Effect of Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) on the Hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) Quality under Cold Storage Conditions

Abstract

Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) is a novel non-thermal preservation method that extends the shelf-life of food. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of CAP on the quality parameters of hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) during cold storage conditions (at 4 °C and RH range 45–55%). For that reason, different quality parameters including the total bacteria count (TBC), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), pH, thiobarbituric acid reacting substances value (TBARS), color, texture, and sensory evaluation have been measured. The hairtail was exposed to CAP at 50 kV voltage for 2, 3, 4, and 5 min. The results showed that the samples treated with CAP at 50 kV for 5 min had significantly lower (p < 0.05) TBC (7.04 ± 0.26 log CFU/g) compared with the control sample (8.69 ± 0.06 log CFU/g). Similar results were found concerning TVB-N, which strongly decreased in the treated samples (16.63 ± 0.03 mg N/100 g) in comparison with the control sample (22.79 ± 0.03 mg N/100 g). In addition, the CAP-treated samples had lower (p < 0.05) changes in color than those of the control group. With reference to the sensory evaluation, the shelf-life of CAP-treated samples (at 50 kV for 5 min) was longer than the untreated samples by about 6 days. These results led us to the conclusion that CAP can effectively delay spoilage and deterioration, slow the rise in pH, and maintain the sensory attributes of hairtail during cold storage conditions.