Title: The effects of temperature abuse at the beginning of storage on the quality and shelf life of fresh water arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus)

The main aim of this project was to study the influence of temperature abuse during the early stages of storage on the shelf life of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). A shelf life study was performed with farmed Arctic charr stored under two different conditions: a) iced and stored at 1°C (well handled lot) and b) iced, but stored at 18°C for 24 hours (resulting in a temperature increase from 3-12°C) on the second day of storage prior to re-icing and storage at 1°C (temperature abused lot). Approximately every third day during storage, samples were collected for sensory analysis using the Quality Index Method (QIM) and Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) and microbiological counts (Total Viable Counts (TVC) and H2S producing bacteria). The maximum shelf life of well handled and temperature abused Arctic charr was 17 and 15 days respectively according to sensory evaluation of cooked fillets (QDA). Sensory evaluation showed a high linear correlation between Quality Index (QI) and storage time for the well handled lot. At the end of shelf life the QI was 17 for both groups. The TVC at the consumption limits were 105 -106 CFU/g of flesh for both lots. H2S producing bacteria constituted a higher proportion of TVC in the abused than in the well handled fish at the end of the storage time (study). High correlation between QI scores, TVC and H2S producing bacteria was found.