Quick Estimation of the Freshness and the Level of Putrefaction in Fish Meat Using Nexera™ Dual Injection System –Simultaneous Analysis of ATP-Related Compounds, Histamine and Amino Acids in Fish Meat–

Introduction

The muscles in fish meat are easily spoiled due to its rough structure and large water content compared to those in farm animal meat. Consequently, the accurate estimation of fish meat freshness is very important to maintain the safety of food. The variance of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is a source of energy for muscles of animals is commonly used as an index of animal meat freshness. In case of numerical estimation of fish meat freshness, the unique K value, related to ATP decomposition is commonly employed in Japan. On the other hand, it is reported that histamine, one of the putrefactive amines, induces allergy through a food intoxication condition. Histamine (one of the metabolites of histidine) is highly accumulated in red fish meat in the putrefactive process. Once histamine is generated, it is not possible to prevent food intoxication because histamine is resistant to heat and cannot be removed during cooking process. To address this issue, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), European countries, and elsewhere have established the official limitation for acceptable levels of histamine concentration. Application News No. L536 introduced determination of the K value in fish meat and the resulting multi-data report on the changes in the freshness over time. This article introduces simultaneous determination of the K value as an indicator of freshness and histamine as an indicator of the level of putrefaction using the NexeraTM dual injection system. Under the analytical conditions described in this article, amino acids and nucleic acids known as nutritional compounds, including umami taste, contained in fish meat were able to be determined simultaneously as well.

March 13, 2020 GMT