Sensory, microbiological, physical and nutritional properties of iced whole common octopus (Octopus vulgaris)

The objective of this study was to collect general data about octopus as seafood and to clarify the validity of the methods for quality evaluation designed normally for other species. Sensory, microbiological and physical analyses were used to characterize whole raw common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) during storage in ice. Nutritional properties of the edible part were also determined. An adaptation of the EC scheme for cuttlefish and a recently developed Quality Index Method (QIM) table were used for sensory analysis. Shelf-life of whole octopus was estimated as 8 days, according to QIM, which is shorter than for most species. Microbiological results suggest that octopus can be better understood as food with knowledge of microbial counts, but the numbers found in octopus surfaces until rejection are lower than in fish, which suggests predominance of enzymatic (autolytic) degradation. Hydrogen sulphide producing bacteria constituted a significant proportion of the total aerobic flora. Physical analysis performed using the RT-Freshmeter showed this instrument can be applied to octopus and the results are useful as quality complementary information. (C) 2003 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.