Effects of modified atmosphere packaging on some quality attributes of a ready-to-eat salmon sushi

Sushi, a very popular food worldwide became a popular ready-to-eat food selling in supermarkets, but it exhibit distinct features, which are associated with microbiological hazards. Therefore, MAP technology, known to reduce aerobic bacteria in fishery products, was used to improve quality of ready-to-eat salmon sushi in this study. Salmon sushi were packaged with air (control), 50% N-2/50% CO2 (MAP-a), and 100% CO2 (MAP-b), stored at 4 +/- 1 degrees C for 6 days and analyzed every day. During the study, control samples taken the lowest sensory scores. The total color change (Delta E) was lower in MAP samples comparing to controls. Likewise, mesophilic and psychrophilic aerobic bacteria counts of gas-treated samples were significantly lower. These results show the positive effect of MAP technology on the quality of salmon sushi. Regarding the improving demand to ready-to-eat sushi selling in supermarkets, this result will be useful in further studies and commercial applications.