Evaluation of Time Temperature Integrators for shelf-life monitoring of frozen seafood under real cold chain conditions

The objective of this study was to evaluate and validate a Time Temperature Integrator (TTI) based cold chain management system to monitor the shelf-life of frozen seafood in the real cold chain, from production to the time of consumption. A pilot study was conducted with frozen blueshark slices and arrow squid with attached UV activatable and enzymatic TTI, tailored to monitor the shelf-life of the selected products in the cold chain. The quality level and remaining shelf-life at predetermined times were estimated based on the response of the TTI and the values were compared to actual measured values of selected quality indices. Results confirm the applicability of TTI as effective indicators of frozen seafood quality during their commercial life.