Effect of high-pressure short-time processing on the physicochemical properties of abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) during refrigerated storage

• Extending shelf-life of abalone using high pressure-short time processing was investigated.
• Microbial growth of abalone was prevented by high pressure treatment at beyond 400 MPa.
• Physicochemical changes of abalone were involved in high pressure processing.
• Optimum processing condition was obtained at 200 MPa of pressurization.

This study investigated the effects of high pressure short-time processing on the physicochemical and microbial characteristics of abalone during chilled storage. Pressurization at 200 MPa caused a decrease in pH and shear force compared to those in the control but thereafter increased with increasing pressure levels. Water holding capacity (WHC) of abalone decreased when pressurized at > 400 MPa. A greater reduction in shear force was observed after 1 week of storage. For color, reduction in the a* value of abalone was considerable during storage. Increasing pressure suppressed the generation of total volatile basic nitrogen compounds and total viable counts, whereas lipid oxidation occurred with increasing pressure. Pressurization at 200 MPa was the optimum pressure condition in which the shelf-life of abalone was extended to about 10 days compared to 3 days in the control.Industrial relevanceFor the use of high pressure as a pasteurization technique, commercial system is required not to exceed 5 min of holding time for the system maintenance purpose. In addition, this process is carried out under ambient temperature for the economical aspect. The abalone which is normally consumed as raw state in East Asia has very short shelf-life (< 3 days) during chilled storage, hence increasing the shelf-life for 7–8 days has been challenged for commercial distribution of the abalone. This study provided one of the strategies to extend shelf-life of abalone with minimal quality changes by high pressure processing.