Abstract: In order to develop low-salt cured tilapia fillets (Oreochromis mossambicus) with prolonged shelf life, two lowsalt tilapia fillets developed in our laboratory, made with salt alone or in combination with potassium chloride, sodium malate and white sugar, were packaged in air (control), modified atmosphere or vacuum and then stored at 4 (refrigeration) or ?3 ℃ (superchilling). Quality indicators including drip loss, sensory score, pH, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value, total volatile base-nitrogen (TVB-N) content, and total bacterial count were determined during storage. Results showed that the sensory scores of the two low-salt cured tilapia fillets gradually decreased with storage time at each temperature, irrespective of the packaging method used, and the pH appeared to decrease first and then increase, while the drip loss, TBARS value, TVB-N content and total number of colonies showed an upward trend with increasing storage time. Overall, it was found that the combined treatment maintained better quality of low-salt tilapia fillets during storage than single salt. The quality of modified atmosphere packaged fish fillets was better than that of those packaged in vacuum and air. The shelf life of both low-salt cured tilapia fillets with modified atmosphere packaging was 12 days at 4 ℃ and 43 days at ?3 ℃, which was prolonged by 8 and 4 days at 4 ℃, and by 25 and 10 days at ?3 ℃ compared with those packaged in vacuum and air, respectively. Both low-salt cured tilapia fillets should be packaged in a modified atmosphere and stored at ?3 ℃ to maintain the product quality and extend the shelf life. This provides technical support for the processing of low-salt tilapia products.

Key words: low-salt cured tilapia fillet, modified atmosphere packaging, vacuum packaging, refrigeration, superchilling, quality