Effect of smoking time on keeping quality of smoked mackerel (<i>Scomboromorus scombrus</i>)

Abstract

Experiments were carried out to study the effects of smoking time on keeping quality of smoked mackerel (Scomboromorus scombrus). Frozen fish was thawed, eviscerated, clean, brined and smoked at 7580°C for 2, 2½, 3 and 3½ hr and stored in the smoking kiln for 20 days. Proximate composition, phenol content, rancidity test and microbiological evaluation were carried out using the smoked samples on the 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th, 16th and 20th day of storage. Increased steam volatile phenol and nonvolatile phenol deposition that ranged from 0.001 to 0.026 and from 0.48 to 1.35 respectively was observed with increased smoking time and decreased with storage days. Thiobarbituric acid value and peroxide values increased from 4.29 to 13.66 and 8.7 to 30.0 respectively with storage days and increased with smoking time while moisture content and water activity decreased from 51.0 to 12.3 and 0.960 to 0.650 respectively with storage days and as well as smoking time.

Keywords: smoking, time, keeping quality, mackerel

Nigerian Food Journal Vol. 23 2005: 114-120