Aerobic Counts, Color and Adenine Nucleotide Changes in CO ₂ Packed Refrigerated Striped Bass Strips

Hybrid striped bass (HSB) strips were dipped in chlorine or distilled water and packaged in 60% CO 2 , 6% O 2 , and 34% N 2 (MAP) or in AIR. APC reached 10 8 CFU/g after 4 days for AIR and 10 days for MAP fish. Sensory panelists detected a whiter color flesh in fish treated with chlorine. Hypoxanthine increased while IMP decreased and ADP and ATP did not change throughout. If inosine was excluded in the predictor, a modified K value (K*) could be applicable as a freshness indicator of freshwater HSB but storage environment should be specified. K* values correlated highly with APC for AIR (R 2 = 0.84) and MAP packs (R 2 = 0.85).