QUALITY AND YIELD CHANGES IN RAINBOW TROUT DURING THE PROCESS OF HOT SMOKING: COMPARISON OF USING FRESH AND FROZEN RAW MATERIALS

This paper presents the results of physical and chemical changes that occur during the process of hot smoking of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchusmykiss), including differences occurring when using fresh or frozen/thawed fish as raw material for the same process. Fresh fish were gutted and subjected to temperature shocking (-35°C for 3.5 h) before salting in a 2% NaCl solution for 12 h. The fish were subsequently smoked at 75-80 °C for 2 h. All material for analysis, 92 fishes, was provided by the private company AHILEAS, Podgorica (Montenegro), and analysis were made following processing steps used in this company in the process of hot smoking. Water content, water holding capacity, pH and yield were determined before processing, after salting, and after smoking. The possible effect of using frozen/thawed fish as raw material was studied by freezing (-17°C, 30 days) a group of the fresh gutted fish. After slow thawing, the fish were processed similar to the fresh raw material. Results of the performed analysis indicate that freezing of fish has no influence on the quality and yield of final, smoked product. The research was performed as a part of the SEAMED project, financed by the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs through HERD (High Education and Research for Development) programme for West Balkans.