Development of a novel smoke-flavoured trout product: An approach to sodium reduction and shelf life assessment

This work aimed to develop a reduced sodium smoke-flavoured trout product with similar physico-chemical traits and sensory quality to commercial smoked trout. In a first phase, a reduced sodium smoke-flavoured trout product was developed by a novel smoke-flavouring process using water vapour permeable bags. In a second phase, the obtained product's microbial and physico-chemical quality was evaluated for 42 cold storage days. A smoke-flavoured trout product with similar physico-chemical characteristics and sensory acceptance to commercial smoked trout was achieved through smoke-flavouring with water vapour permeable bags. Partial substitution of NaCl for KCl led to a 42% sodium reduction in the smoke-flavoured trout and did not affect its physico-chemical traits, sensory attributes and hygienic quality throughout the storage. During shelf life study, no sample exceeded the limits of acceptance proposed for physico-chemical and microbial parameters, except for mesophilic bacteria, which limited the product shelf life to 1 month.