Food Chem 2013 Nov 15;1412:841-6. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.03.057.

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.

PubMed ID: 23790856
Article link: Food Chem


Genes referenced: impact LOC100887844