title: The effect of holding live sea urchins (Evechinus chloroticus) in air prior to gonad removal on gonad adenine nucleotide profiles during storage at 4°C.
abstract: Sea urchin gonads are usually sold as a fresh chilled product. Thus, to evaluate the effect of live urchin's post-harvest conditions on gonad shelf-life, gonads were extracted either immediately after harvesting or after holding urchins in air at either 4 or 15°C for 144 and 72h, respectively. Gonads were subsequently washed in brine and stored at 4°C for 10days prior to adenine nucleotide (nmol/gw/w) profile determination. A decline in ATP (control: 376.16; urchins held in air: 231.58 and 245.16) and build-up of its degradation products, mainly inosine (control: 13.25; urchins held in air: 82.87 and 52.95), was observed in gonads recovered from urchins held in air. A faster increase in ATP degradation products was detected during storage of gonads recovered from urchins held in air, with final K-values (%) of 59.34 and 48.18 being significantly higher than K-values obtained from the controls (29.69, p<0.05), suggesting that post-harvest handling can negatively impact on gonad shelf-life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Wasseela
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Verachia
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lazzarino
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Niven
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Bremer
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D061353:Food Storage; D006066:Gonads / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000737:chemistry*; D017747:Seafood / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate