Seafood Quality and Safety

Code

Course teacher

Associate teachers

Status of the course

Course objectives

Seafood is a high-value food group and an important part of the human diet. Due to its chemical composition seafood falls into easily perishable foods. In the last 20 years there is an increase of infections caused foods and marine origin food poisoning are very common. The presence of biological (bacteria, viruses, parasites) and chemical (residues, biotoxins) hazards in fish and other marine organisms is very difficult to control since they are present in the their natural habitat, thus these organisms presents a risk to consumers and require a control through analytical methods for the detection parameters quality in seafood. This course deals with the quality parameters in seafood. In addition to introducing quality parameters and their role in the quality and food safety, particular attention will be paid to the understanding of the overall functioning of the distribution chain in the food industry. The emphasis of the course is to understand the factors that affect the safety of fishery products, recognition of quality parameters as well as knowledge of the principles and analytical procedures in assessing the quality and safety of fishery products.

Course enrolment requirements and entry competences required for the course

Competence in applying knowledge of inorganic and organic chemistry and microbiology and biochemistry.
Passed exam in Seafood processing technology.

Learning outcomes expected at the level of the course (4 to 10 learning outcomes)

Upon completion of the course and passing the exam, students will be able to:
- assess the seafood related hazards that pose a risk to consumers.
- recognize and analytically determine specific quality parameters for a particular seafood product.
- identify risks of a certain products based on the characteristics of the products (NaCl, aw, pH, temperature).
- determine the shelf life of a specific product using relevant sensory, microbiological, biochemical and chemical methods.
- assess the risks in the supply chain of fishery products.

Course content broken down in detail by weekly class schedule (syllabus)

1st week: Trends and problems in the seafood production, the concept of food quality.
2nd week: Spoilage of seafood.
3rd week: Postmortem changes in fish.
4th week: Postmortem changes in fish - continued.
5th week: Freshness degradation and freshness parameters.
6th week: Bacterial degradation of fish.
7th week: Sensory evaluation of fish quality.
8th week: Chemical indicators of freshness and spoilage of fish.
9th week: Volatile amines.
10th week: Biogenic amines.
11th week: Histamine.
12th week: Changes in lipids, lipid deterioration.
13th week: Changes in physical properties of fish meat.
14th week: Bioresiduals and preservatives in fishery products.
15th week: Practical application and usage of quality parameters in practice, risk assessment.
Exercises:
Sensory evaluation of seafood. Distillation method for determining the quantity of TVB-N and TMA-N. Measuring the pH of fish meat, dielectric properties and texture during storage of different species of fish in various storage conditions. Determination of NaCl share in various fishery products. Visit to the Laboratory for quality control of animal origin, Veterinary Institute in Split. Determination of histamine. Measurement of the lipids oxidation parameters during processing and / or storage of seafood, determining the secondary products of lipid oxidation eg. malondialdehyde (MDA), thiobarbituric acid assay / or TBARS TBK. Introducing quality parameters of fish oil. Determination of anisidine value, peroxide value, acidic value and TBARS test for fish oil.

Format of instruction:

Student responsibilities

Students are required to attend classes (lectures and exercises), actively participate in the teaching process and pass the exam (or 2 tests). The presence at lectures will be recorded, and absence needs to be justified. One hundred percent presence in class will be rewarded with 2 extra points at the test.