Freshness Changes and Shelf Life Prediction of Cultured Tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus ) During Chilled Storage

In this study, freshness changes and shelf life prediction of cultured tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) stored at 0, 5 and 10°C were investigated. Total viable counts (TVC), the count of Pseudomonas spp. and total volatile basic nitrogen(TVB-N) in newly-caught tilapia were determined as 4.79±0.60 log cfu/g, 4.00±0.75 log cfu/g and 8.08±0.46 mg/100 g, respectively. At the end of shelf life, TVC, the counts of Pseudomonas spp. and TVB-N increased to 8.08±0.26 log cfu/g, 7.66±0.10 log cfu/g, and 20.1±1.66 mg/100g, respectively, which were utilized to develop exponential spoilage shelf life model. RRS model of shelf life was developed by the shelf life at 0, 5 and 10°C, its accuracy factor and bias factor were from 1.06 and 1.01, indicating the model was useful to effectively predict the shelf life of chilled Tilapia at the range of 0 and 10°C.