RELATION BETWEEN THE FREE AMINO ACIDS, ANSERINE AND THE TOTAL VOLATILE BASIC NITROGEN PRODUCED IN MUSCLE OF HAKE (MERLUCCIUS MERLUCCIUS, L.) DURING ICED STORAGE

This work studied the development of free amino acids (FAAs) and dipeptide anserine as quality indices for gutted hake stored in ice for 25 days. The correlation of these compounds was determined with total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN) which has been used as a quality index for fish stored in ice. The most abundant free amino acids in hake muscle were found to be threonine, glycine, alanine, glutamic acid, β-alanine methylhistidine, lysine and the dipeptide, anserine. The only hydrophobic free amino acids which exhibit significant differences (P Cette etude examine le developpement d'acides amines libres et du dipeptide anserine en tant qu'indice de qualite pour du merlu eviscere entrepose dans la glace pendant 25 jours. La correlation de ces composes avec l'azote basique volatil total est determinee. Une reduction de la teneur en anserine est correlee avec une augmentation des teneurs en l-methylhistidine et β-alanine pendant l'entreposage. Ces changements montrent aussi une forte correlation avec l'azote basique volatil total.