Determination of shelf life of marinated carp (Cyprinus carpio L., 1758) fillets

In the present study, sensory, microbiological and chemical changes during manufacturing and storage of marinated and baked fillets were investigated. For this purpose, the fillets were divided in to three groups. One group was control and the other two groups were marinated with two different marination mixes (group A and group B). The control fillets were cooked at 150 °C for 55 minutes. The marinated groups were cooked after holding at +4 °C for 6 hours. Central temperatures of cooked fillets were chilled to +4 °C and vacuum packaged. Vacuumed fillets stored at +4 °C. Then fillets were analysed for sensory, microbiological (mesophilic aerobic bacteria, psycrophilic aerobic bacteria, mesophilic anaerobic bacteria, yeast and mould counts) and chemical (pH, moisture, dried matter, water activity, total volatile ? nitrogen, tiobarbituric acid and salt) on 0, 7 th,14 th,28 th,42 nd,56 th,70 th,84 th and 98 th days of storage. In the microbiological analysis, counts of total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, psycrophilic aerobic bacteria, mesophilic anaerobic bacteria, yeast and mould counts were determined as < 10 cfu/g in all groups during the storage. pH values during storage were 6.06-6.44 for control, 5.97-6.24 for group A, 5.75-6.07 for group B, dried matter and moisture values were 64.35-68.01 % and 31.97-35.64 % for control, 63.47-72.74 % and 27.25-34.94 % for group A, 67.63-69-22 % and 30.75-32.36 % for group B respectively, water activity (aw) were 0.938-0.952 for control, 0.944-0.968 for group A, 0.950-0.960 for group B, total volatile ? nitric (TVB-N) values (mg/100g) were 11.56-23.53 for control, 12.03-16.42 for group A, 8.4-14.56 for group B, tiobarbituric acid (TBA) count (mg/1000g) were 0.143-2.9 for control, 0.16-0.731 for group A, 0.143-0.691 for group B and salt amounts were 5.69-6.43 % for control, 4.41-6.18 % for group A, 5.18-5.98 % for group B between detected. There was no significant difference among the groups in pH, moisture, dried matter, aw, TVB-N and salt level (p>0.05). The TBA value increased during the storage period in control group. As for the TBA value, the difference between control group and group A and group B was significant (p<0.05). When fillets have been investigated from sensory characteristics, A and B products in group A and B were found beter than control group throughout the storage period. As a result, it is concluded that quality of the marinated, baked, vacuumpackaged carp fillets was maintained for et least 98 days during storage at 4 °C. Key words: Carp fillet, Marination, Baking, Sensory, Microbioloical, Chemical Quality, Shelf Life.