Antioxidants to preserve rockfish color.

Thornyhead rockfish, Sebastolobus alascanus, were treated with mixed tocopherols, alone or plus ascorbic acid (TCAA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and sodium erythorbate to preserve red skin color during frozen storage. While all treatments significantly improved color retention compared to the control, at 4 mo the TCAA treated fish had significantly higher red color scores than any other treatment group, as measured using the CIE L*a*b* scale. The TCAA dip also appeared to enhance the red color compared to pre-treatment values.