Effect of salting and cold-smoking procedures on Atlantic salmon originating from pre-or post rigor filleted raw material. Based on the measurement of physiochemical characteristics

Different methods in use for cold smoking of salmon affect product yield and quality. The combinations of filleting time (pre or post), salting methods (dry or injection), salting targets (2.5 or 4%) and smoking temperatures (15 or 25 degrees C) were studied during 6 weeks of 4 degrees C cold storage. Salting method had the greatest influence on flesh quality. Injection salting led to 15% higher fillet yield, moderate to strong gaping score, softer texture, and paler fish compared with dry salting. Pre-rigor filleting reduced fillet gaping from a moderate to minor score, but only in dry salted fillets. Smoking at 15 degrees C reduced yield by 0.5% in injected salted fish, compared with 25 degrees C. The combination of pre-rigor filleting, dry salting and 15 degrees C smoking temperature gave the lowest gaping incidence and highest shear force and flesh colour. Liquid loss increased by 240% and the L-value by 6.5 units during 6 weeks cold storage, whereas the other quality parameters measured showed only small changes during the storage period.