Self-life Studies on an Underutilized Sea Food from Southeast Coast of India

The horse conch, Pleuroploca trapezium is a marine gastropod that is landed in huge amount as by-catch along Gulf of Mannar, southeast coast of India. To make use of this underutilized gastropod meat, ready- to- serve instant soup powder was prepared using this meat with an objective to popularize the meat among local people. This study was intended to find out the best packing material for the long time storage of this soup powder. Instant soup powder was first prepared using non-deodourized meat and packed in LDPE pouches. Since the shell life was poor, another batch of soup powder was prepared using deodourized meat and packed in pouches made of HMHD, PP, 12 μ PET laminated with 50 μ LDPE, 12 μ PET laminated with BOPP, 12 μ PET laminated with metallised BOPP. During storage, studies such as relative humidity moisture relationship, wettability were also carried out in addition to shelf life studies. The soup powder stored in laminated pouches had a shelf life of 6 months at room temperature.