POSTMORTEM CHANGES IN CHILLED ROUND, BLED AND DRESSED ALBACORE

Albacore were killed by brain destruction, dressed, bled or left round, chilled in sea water/ice slurry at 1.1-degrees-C, and stored in ice. Fish were analyzed for 33 days for aerobic plate count (APC), pH, salt, histamine, trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA-N), and nucleotide content. Dressed albacore cooled faster than round or bled albacore. No significant differences were evident in APC, pH, salt, TMA-N, or nucleotide content of round, bled and dressed albacore. Histamine was detected only at day 33. TMA-N, inosine monophosphate and hypoxanthine content, and nucleotide ratios appeared to be useful indices of storage life.