Feasibility of processing temperatures on the quality and shelf-life of smoke-flavoured cod

•Smoke-flavouring salting of cod was conducted using water vapor permeable bags.•The effect of processing temperature on the shelf-life of smoked cod was evaluated.•The process at 10 °C was unsuitable to obtain smoke-flavoured cod of good quality.•Smoke-flavoured cod elaborated at 5 °C is suitable for commercialization.

The feasibility of two processing temperatures on the quality and shelf-life of smoke-flavoured cod was studied. Cod was submitted to a smoke-flavouring process in water vapour permeable (WP) bags at 5 or 10 °C. Physicochemical and microbiological analyses were run for 40 days of cold storage. The WP bags allowed the exudate to evaporate during the smoke-flavouring process, which enabled salting, drying and smoking to be done in a single step. Processing temperature did not bring about major changes in the moisture, pH, aw and colour of the smoke-flavoured cod. However, processing at 10 °C increased volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) and trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA-N) from the start of the study, whereas the samples obtained at 5 °C maintained low TVB-N and TMA-N values, but only until day 21. The samples processed at 10 °C gave the highest Hx values due to degradation of IMP into Ino, and Ino into Hx. Microbiological counts were higher for the samples processed at 10 °C compared to samples processed at 5 °C, which did not reach the acceptability limits until day 40. Overall, the results provided of this study highlight the potential of smoke-flavouring process and in particular, the benefits of the use of refrigeration temperatures of 5 °C.