Abstract:

To study the effect of temperature fluctuation on the quality change of red drum, the process of cold chain logistics
including storage, transportation, selling and consumption was simulated for analyzing changes in some quality attributes
(whiteness and sensory evaluation), physical index (weight loss) and biochemical indicators (pH value, total volatile basic
nitrogen (TVB-N) value, 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value, K value, soluble protein content and aerobic plate count (APC)).
It was shown that the quality of red drum was deteriorated in the cold chain logistics. The temperature fluctuation during
storage favored microbial growth, accelerated the decomposition rate of protein and the degradation rate of ATP, increased
weight loss and TVB-N value, and decreased the sensory quality of red drum. The changes in TBA value in this experiment
was negligibly small. Thus, temperature fluctuations especially at larger frequency can accelerate protein degradation,
microbial growth and multiplication, destroyed muscle tissue structure, and caused significantly adverse impact on the
quality of red drum.

Key words: red drum, temperature fluctuation, cold chain logistics, quality changes