Quality Assurance & Management

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K-Value, an index for estimating fish quality during iced storage
(Cochin University of Science And Technology, 1998) Lakshmanan, P.T.; Iyer, T.S.G.; Antony, F.D.; Gopakumar, K.
The quality of four species of marine finfish, viz., white pomfret (Pampus argenteus), jew fish (Pseudosciaena sp.), rainbow sardine (Dussumieria hasseltii) and ribbon fish (Lepturacanthus savala) and two species of prawns poovalen (Metapenaeus dobsoni) and karikkadi (Parapenaeopsis stylifera) and the squid (Loligo duvaceli) stored in ice was evaluated by measuring the levels of breakdown products of adenosine triphosphate (IMP and hypoxanthine), K-value, volatile bases and sensory methods. In general, the initial K-value in these species were in the range of >1 to 7% and it increased with storage time. The rate of nucleotide degradation differed between species. The K-value of prawns, squid, pomfret and rainbow sardine exceeds 50% after 8-10 days storage in ice whereas the K-values of other two fin fish species increased quite rapidly. Relatively, higher levels of AMP had been recognised in postmortem prawn muscle. K-value appeared to be a good index of fish freshness. Sensory characteristic were well correlated with K-value.