109 QUALITY CHANGES OF PANGASIUS FILLETS DURING ICE STORAGE Diah Ikasari * and Theresia Dwi Suryaningrum Research Center and Development Marine and Fisheries Product Processing and Biotechnology Jalan KS. Tubun Petamburan VI, Slipi, Central Jakarta, Indonesia 10260 Abstract Quality asessment of pangasius (Pangasius hypopthalmus) fillets stored in ice has been conducted. Fish were fasted for one day and slaughtered using bleeding techniques, drained for 10 minutes and filleted in various types of fillet: skin on, skinless, trimmed and untrimmed condition. Fillets were then washed and packed in vacuum plastics, stored in ice (0-4 ºC) for 18 days and observed for its sensory, chemical and microbiological parameters every 3 days. The sensory evaluation was conducted both for fresh or cooked fillets using scoring test on attribute of appearance, odor and texture as well as hedonic test. The chemical parameters observed were proximate; pH and Total Volatile Base (TVB); while microbiological parameter was Total Plate Count (TPC). Results showed that type of fillet did not significantly affect the quality of pangasius fillets. The quality of all treated fillet decreased in line with time of storage, all products were rejected after being stored for 18 days. At the time of rejection, the quality parameters: moisture content ranging from 80.1 to 81.3%, TVB from 11.1 to 11.5 mg N/100g and TPC from 1.41 to 4.6x10 5 CFU/ml. It is suggested to preserve pangasius fillets in ice less than 18 days. Keywords: pangasius, fillets, quality, fat removal, skin removal Article history: Received: 5 October 2015; Revised: 25 November 2015; Accepted: 28 November 2015 Squalen Bull. of Mar. & Fish. Postharvest & Biotech. 10 (3) 2015, 109-120 www.bbp4b.litbang.kkp.go.id/squalen-bulletin Squalen Bulletin of Marine & Fisheries Postharvest & Biotechnology ISSN: 2089-5690 e-ISSN: 2406-9272 *Corresponding author. E-mail: diah_ika263@yahoo.com Copyright © 2015, Squalen BMFPB. Accreditation Number: 631/AU2/P2MI-LIPI/03/2015. 1. Introduction Pangasius has become a promising fish commodity since it has high value both in domestic and global markets, easy to be cultivated and high resistant to pathogen (Ikasari & Suryaningrum, 2014). The high demand of this species in the UE, USA, and UK has promoted Pangasius as aquaculture species in Indonesia (Polanco & Luna, 2009). Recently, Pangasius industry have flourished in some regions in Indonesia, including Jambi, Riau and South Borneo. Production of Pangasius in Indonesia dramatically increased from 31.490 tons in 2006 to 651.000 tons in 2012 (Ditjen PEN, 2013). From 4 varieties of cultured Pangasius, namely Siam, Jambal, Nasutus and Pasupati (the hybrid of Siam and Jambal), Siam is higher number of production compared to other varieties (Anon., 2009a). Pangasius is generally exported as fresh fish or in form of fillets. Fillets are preferred by consumers and has higher export value than fresh fish. Filleting is aimed to obtain the primary edible portion of fish, producing waste such as head, viscera, bones, fins, skin and adipose tissues. This process will result in only less than a half of fish weight or about 30-45% weight loss (38% in average) (Morkore et al., 2001). Various ways have been done to increase the yield of fillets, such as filleting without removing the skin (skin on) nor fat (trimmed)(Sang et al., 2009; Sahu et al., 2013). According to Norwegian Industry Standard for Fish (1998), catfish fillets can be differentiated into four types depending on its various degrees of trimming and skinning. Type A, fillet is a whole fillet, without belly, bone and skin removal. Type B, fillet is a half fillet, with shoulder and sometimes stirrup bone removal as well as semi skinned (whole or part of the silver line is left on the fillet). Type C, fillet is a trimmed fillet, with bones, thin belly as well as silver lining removal (normal skinning). Type D, fillet is a boneless fillet, with all bone and belly removal as well as deep skinning, where the silver lining and parts of the brown muscle is removed from the fillet. For fresh fillet, type B, C, and D fillets are normally used. Nevertheless, types of fillet are considered to have an effect to the DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15578/squalen.v10i3.134