ABSTRACT
Aquatic food products are generally grouped into eight categories viz. chilled, frozen, smoked, canned, bottled and similar products, salted, dried, marinades and other heat processed. The control of quality is possible in each aquatic food product. The white patches or ‘freezer burn’ on frozen fish meat is due to severe dehydration/desiccation. Proper packaging with exclusion of air pockets from the package, sufficient glazing, maintenance of constant storage temperature and relative humidity are essential for controlling this defect. Common quality defects in frozen fish are black spot formation in shell-on shrimps, drip loss or weight loss during thawing, loosening of head in whole shrimps, dehydration or desiccation, blackening and browning in frozen lobster tails. Such as yellow discolouration in lobster meat, squid tubes, cuttlefish fillets and pomfrets, bacterial problems, presence of foreign materials, presence of excessive numbers of inedible materials, green discolouration in frozen swordfish and ship-frozen tuna fillets and protein denaturation.
