The effect of holding live sea urchins (Evechinus chloroticus) in air prior to gonad removal on gonad adenine nucleotide profiles during storage at 4 °C

Sea urchin gonads are usually sold as a fresh chilled product. Thus, to evaluate the effect of live urchin’s post-harvest conditions on gonad shelf-life, gonads were extracted either immediately after harvesting or after holding urchins in air at either 4 or 15 °C for 144 and 72 h, respectively. Gonads were subsequently washed in brine and stored at 4 °C for 10 days prior to adenine nucleotide (nmol/g w/w) profile determination. A decline in ATP (control: 376.16; urchins held in air: 231.58 and 245.16) and build-up of its degradation products, mainly inosine (control: 13.25; urchins held in air: 82.87 and 52.95), was observed in gonads recovered from urchins held in air. A faster increase in ATP degradation products was detected during storage of gonads recovered from urchins held in air, with final K-values (%) of 59.34 and 48.18 being significantly higher than K-values obtained from the controls (29.69, p < 0.05), suggesting that post-harvest handling can negatively impact on gonad shelf-life.