Shelf-life of vacuum-packed smoked salmon: microbiological and chemical changes during storage

Among all the smoked fishes and smoked fish products, the salmon is surely the most appreciated by the Italian consumers; nevertheless their sensorial and hygienical characteristics often are not quite up to the mark. In Italy smoked salmon is usually sold as sliced vacuum-packed product with a minimum declared shelf-life of 3 or 6 months, kept at refrigeration temperature. The aim of our research was to establish if the real storage potential of this kind of product processed in our country. 80 portions of sliced, vacuum-packed smoked salmon were analyzed chemically and bacteriologically to assess their stability up to the expiry date. 40 samples of Atlantic salmon (S. salar) and 40 samples of chub salmon (O. keta) were considered; their declared shelf-life was 80 days for Norvegian salmon and, respectively, 160 days for the Canadian one. The results of the chemical and microbiological analyses lead us to conclude that the effective shelf-life of the Atlantic salmon and of Canadian salmon is nearly 40-50 days and, respectively, 80 days if the fish product is kept always at 2/3 o C of temperature. The determination of TMA and TVBN may give interesting data on the sensorial and hygienical characteristics of this food during the storage