In one of my studies while working with Solomon Taiyo Limited company of
Solomon Islands 5 years ago, I did some salt content studies with both
mistreated and good handled fish.
Salt penetrattion in purse seine caught tuna is going to be very high if the
meat part close to the skin do not freeze to below -10 degrees celcius
within the first 8-12 hours after brining onboard or onshore brine tanks.
Your can have both mistreated and good handled fish in the same brine tank.
Although, mistreated tuna will absord more salt into the meat, the
difference between both fish conditions are not that different.
Therefore, the most critical faxctor is the first 8-12 hours when the tuna
are brined in the brine tank. The more your load the tank the slower the
freezing process. Additionally, such low freezing could be due to both
mechanical and operational anomalies.
Gabriel Victor Titili MSc
Food System Specialist
Celtrock Holdings Limited
----- Original Message -----
From: P Howgate <phowgate@rsc.co.uk>
To: Seafood HACCP Mailing List <seafood@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 9:54 PM
Subject: Re: Inquiry - salt content in tuna
> Dear all
>
> It has been pointed out to me, in a friendly way, that the line below my
> name in my message of 7 December implies I work for the NOAA. My apologies
> to NOAA for trying to insinuate myself on their payroll, but that is not
the
> case and the line appeared there as a result of an error in starting
typing
> in the wrong place after a cut and paste. The line should have followed
the
> reference as the source for the publication.
>
> Yes, I agree with Klaus Schallié that high salt content can be associated
> with poor quality, but a cause might at times lie not so much in slow
> freezing, but in delays before freezing. Tunas are often not frozen
> immediately after capture on board the seiner and are held in refrigerated
> seawater tanks until there are enough fish in the tank to be worth
freezing.
> The seawater is topped up with salt to a concentration that can be used
for
> brine freezing and the tunas then brine frozen. If fishing is slow, or has
> been interrupted, fish might be in the tanks for a few days before
freezing.
> This will allow for uptake of salt and allow spoilage to occur. These fish
> can be recognised even in the frozen state by a washed out appearance of
the
> skin, and the presence of a film of brown-discoloured frozen brine on the
> surface. Freshly frozen tunas have a bright, clean appearance.
>
> Peter Howgate
> (not working for anyone apart from myself - occasionally)
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Dec 08 2001 - 19:44:51 PST