Effect of harvesting stress and storage conditions on protein degradation in fillets of farmed gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata): A differential scanning calorimetry study

A trial was undertaken to evaluate Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) as a fast analytical tool to differentiate gilthead seabream subjected to variable conditions of slaughter stress and post-mortem storage. Fish were subjected to different harvesting stress conditions: profound anaesthesia (PA, low stress) and net crowding (NC, high stress). Fish were slaughtered in an ice-salt water slurry, and subsequently stored on ice (7 days). Additional NC fish were frozen (−20 °C) and subjected to a freeze–thaw cycle. Dorsal muscle was assessed for cathepsins activity, liquid loss and DSC analysis. It is demonstrated that DSC analysis is capable of differentiating fresh, frozen and thawed-re-frozen fish, while liquid loss and cathepsin B activity are good markers to distinguish fresh from frozen fish. Harvesting stress had little effect on myosin and actin enthalpy transitions, as observed by DSC at 49 and 74 °C, respectively, but a lower ΔH actin/myosin ratio was found in PA fish, suggesting that intense exercise prior to slaughter promoted partial denaturation of muscle myosin.