Storage Quality of Fresh and Frozen‐thawed Fish in Ice

The objective was to determine whether traditional quality indexes of fresh (unfrozen) fish like sensory analysis, bacterial counts and trimethylamine content could be applied to thawed whole cod, cod fillets and ocean perch fillets kept in ice. Freezing and short‐term freezer storage (≤5 wk at −25°C) had very little effect on bacterial counts. During long‐term freezer storage (≥14 wk at −25°C) total counts were reduced as well as counts of trimethylamine oxide‐reducing bacteria in cod fillets but not in ocean perch fillets. When the thawed fish was unacceptable the trimethylamine was <1 mgN/100g. Trimethylamine as a spoilage indicator was of no value when evaluating spoilage of thawed whole cod, cod fillets and ocean perch fillets kept in ice.