Abstract: The individual and combined effects of cinnamaldehyde and ultra-high pressure (200 MPa for 10 min) on the quality of Paralichthys olivaceus fillets during cold storage at 4 ℃ were investigated in this paper. In order to evaluate the effect on the shelf life, the changes in total bacterial count, water-holding capacity, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content, K value and texture profile analysis were measured periodically for the treatment and the control groups. The results showed that the quality of the treatment groups was preserved significantly better than that of the control group. The combined treatment with cinnamaldehyde and ultra-high pressure provided the best quality preservation by significantly inhibiting the growth of bacteria, delaying the increase of TVB-N content, TBA value and K value and the decrease of water-binding capacity (P < 0.05), and effectively retarding the decrease in texture properties such as hardness, springiness and chewiness during the refrigeration of fillets. This combination extended the shelf life by approximately 8 days compared with the control group and by 4 days compared with either treatment alone.

Key words: Paralichthys olivaceus, cinnamaldehyde, ultra-high pressure, refrigeration, quality