ABSTRACT
Fishery products are highly perishable, because of their susceptibility to contamination by spoilage causing microorganisms. Fish lipids are highly sensitive to oxidation and associated fl avor changes and to denaturation of proteins. Fishery products are also prone to contamination by diverse pathogenic microorganisms, threatening consumer safety (Huss 1995; Venugopal 1990). Several technologies are available for preservation of fi shery products, which include chilling, freezing and individual quick freezing, cook-chilling, coating and battering, radiation processing, modifi ed atmosphere packaging and high pressure processes, among others (Venugopal 2006). Conventional processes like chilling and freezing have limitations. Whereas chilling offers only limited extension in shelf life, prolonged frozen storage leads to dehydration, lipid oxidation, protein denaturation and accumulation of copious quantities of drip, which affect shelf life and consumer acceptability of the products. Water glazing of frozen items before storage is being commercially practiced to minimize the problems to some extent (Huss 1995; Ashie et al. 1996).
