Investigation of quality attributes of ice-stored Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) as affected by sequential minimal ozone treatment

•Quality of sequential minimal ozone-treated ice-stored shrimp is investigated.•By reducing quality attributes, sequential minimal ozone treatment resembled an anti-oxidant.•Sequential minimal ozone treatment improves consumer safety of shrimp.

Ozone treatment is among non-thermal technologies with great promise to the seafood industry. Additionally, the demand for high quality minimally processed food products is increasing worldwide. However, no research endeavors has explored the quality attributes of sequential minimal ozone-treated ice stored shrimp. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to study the quality attributes of ice-stored Pacific white shrimp subject to minimal ozone treatment sequentially applied at days 1, 3, 5, 8 and 11. Quality indicators measured include aerobic plate count (APC), titratable acidity (TA), metric chroma, hue difference (ΔH), total colour difference (TCD), trimethylamine-nitrogen (TMA-N), total volatile basic-nitrogen (TVB-N), peroxide value (PV), p-anisidine value (AnV) and total oxidation (totox). The results indicated that the TA, metric chroma, ΔH, TCD, APC, TMA-N, TVB-N, PV, AnV and Totox values changed significantly with storage. Also, statistical differences in correlations and temporal rates of TMA-N and TVB-N as well as PV and AnV of sequential minimal ozone-treated ice-stored shrimp were obtained compared to control (P < 0.05). The noticeable reductions in APC, TMA-N, TVB-N and PV showed sequential minimal ozone treatment to resemble an anti-oxidant and thus, could within the respective limits of acceptability promise the safety of shrimp for consumption.