Use of chitosan coating in increasing the shelf life of liquid smoked Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) fillet.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the efficiency of liquid smoking and chitosan coating on the shelf life of Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) fillets. Fillets without liquid smoked and chitosan coating (control), liquid smoked fillets (LS), and liquid smoked and chitosan coated fillets (LSCh) were stored at 4 ± 1 °C for 30 days. The physicochemical (pH, moisture content, water activity-aw , color, texture, total volatile bases nitrogen-TVB-N and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances-TBARS) and microbiological analyses (mesophilic and psychrotrophic counts) and the electrophoresis profile of samples were carried out. Physicochemical parameters, such as TVB-N and TBARS, were reduced in the tilapia fillets with liquid smoking. The presence of the coating of chitosan was effective for the control of the microorganisms during storage. This work showed that the addition of a chitosan coating in liquid-smoked fillets further enhanced the effect of preservation.