Definition of textural deterioration in squid samples: Three different tools supported by microbial, visual and physico-chemical analysis

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to reveal the textural profile changes like hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, and adhesion supported by total mesophilic aerobic bacteria count (TMABc), pH, and some visual sensory characteristics in squid samples stored at 4 ºC. Three different Brookfield Texture Analyzer tools, named TA7, TA9, and TA18 were used to observe the textural changes more clearly. The difference of TMABc between the storage days reached from 4.32 log CFU/g to 6.32 log CFU/g. The hardness value of the squid samples, detected by TA18 and TA9 tools, increased while the hardness value obtained from TA7 was higher. The highest change in cohesiveness value in the squid samples was defined by the TA9 tool as ~63%. Once springiness values detected by TA9 were sharply decreased from 4.9 mm to 2.1 mm, those of TA7 and TA18 were slowly decreased. The most increase in adhesion value (0.08 mJ to 0.21 mJ) was obtained in the TA7 tool. Depending on the textural quality changes, the pH value was increased, and as visual and sensory, dark, or yellow spots were observed. The present study results revealed that especially the TA18 tool could be effectively used to determine the quality changes of the squid samples.