EATING QUALITY, PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND
MICROBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
KNOBBED HERRING PICKLED I WOODEN OR
PLASTIC BARRELS
S. VARGA , P. MICHALIK , D. LEMON AND M.B. WOJTOWICZ
DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS
FISHERIES AND MARl E SERVICE
I SPECTIO DIVISION
HALIFAX , NOVA SCOT IA B3J 2S7
MAY 1979
FISHERIES AND MARINE SERVICE
TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 866
Fisheries and Environment
Peches et Environnement
Canada
Canada
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and Marine serv ice
service des pkhes
et de la mer
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arine Service
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Fisheries and Marine Service
Technica Report No. 866
APRIL 1979
EATING QUALITY, PHYSICAL. CHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF KNOBBED HERRING PICKLED IN WOODEN OR PLASTIC BARRELS
S. Varga, P. Michalik. D. Lemon and M.B. Wojtowicz
Department
Fi
ries and Oceans
Fisherie
nd M rine
rvice
Inspection Service
1721 Lower
ter t.
Halifax. Nova Scotia B3J 257
CANADA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Abstract/Resume
------------------------- v
Introduction
1
Experimental
1
Results
2
Discussion
2
Summary
2
Acknowledgement ---------------------------------------- 2
References ------------~----- -------------------------- 2
Tables
3
S. Varga, P. Michalik, D. Lemon and
Hojtowicz.
~LB.
Chemical, and Microbiological Characteristics
Plastic Barrels.
0
1979.
E ting Quality, Physic
Knobbed Herrino Pickled in
~ooden
or
Fish. and tAar. Servo Tech. Rep. No. 866, p , 6.
The wooden barrel used for the processing of pickled herring confines the ingredients,
provides physical integrity and presents a barrier between the atmospheric oxygen and the
product.
A good barrel is leakproof, durable and impermeable to atmospheric oxygen.
The
introduction of plastic barrels for the processing of salted her ing has been opposed
because of the bel ief that herring tastes and matures differently in wooden barrels compared
to that in plastic barrels.
The study described in this report showed that there was no
detectable difference as measured by taste panel, chemical and microbiological methods
between herring cured and stored in wooden or plastic barrels.
posed to the atmospheric oxygen become rancid quickly.
in the properly processed salted herring is reduced.
ficant role to perform.
Herring lipids or flesh ex-
Results indicate that the microflora
Thus it is unlikely to have a sioni-
Plastic barrels could be superior to the wooden container. jf it is
leak and breakage pr-o o f , air tI q ht a nd cost competitive.
The s t o ra qe life of pickled ho r ri no is dependent on the quality of he r r i n q at the time
of salting, th
method of handling during curing and storing.
Good quality pickled herring,
properly processed and stored can keep longer than a year.
Les ba ris de bois empl
ingr~dients.
ique et le pr od u i
a l'air.
t .
viei11issait di
L'ut l t s a t on d
ba rt l s de p1astique pour 1e traitement du ha r e nq
que le poisson plac€ dan
nt et avait un gou
des bari1s de pl stique.
exp
L'~tude
ienc s concernant le
d
nee remarquable.
dans le rapport demantre qu'il n'en est rien:
de
Les lipides de ha
ont expos6s ~ 1 'oxy
ne.
essais chimiques et microbiologiques portant sur du
au de plastique n'ont r6v~16
ng et sa chai
Les r€su1tats indiquen
hareng sal€ permet de r€duire la flore microbienne.
d'effet important.
des barils de bois
particu1ier, camparativement ~ celui plac~ dans
hareng trait~ et entrepos6 dans des barl1s de boi
qu'ils
emprisonnent les
Un baril de bonne qual i t e est etanche, durable e t
sal€ €tait candamnee parce qu'an croyai
de
marin~s
Ils donnent uinsi une entit€ enti~re et pr~sentent une barri~re entre
1 'oxygene atmosph
impermeable
s dans le traitement des harengs
Le baril de plastique pourrait
ucune dif-
deviennent rapidement ranees d~s
que le traitement appropri€ du
Le pIa tique n'a probablement pas
surclasser le contenant de bois, si
son impermeabi1it6, sa solidit€, son €tanch€it€ et son prix ~taient concurrentials.
Le duration de 1a qualit€ du hareng marin€
salaison et 1a
de bonn
plus d'un
nd de la qualit€ du hareng au temps de 1a
hode de manipulation pendant la salaison et 1 'entreposage.
qu lit{ qui
Du hareng
trait€ et entrepos€ convenab1ement peut se conserver pendant
n,
v
sa1~
INTRODUCTION
has been
Atlantic
n
barrel s
mostly salted
consists of mix(1). The sal
coarse, 50% fine)
ing about 53 1
and gutted) herring
with 220 Ibs of kno,bbE,d
After filling, the
in a 120 wooden barrel
(
12 hours to allow
barrel head is 1
off for
I mixed with salt) is
settli
herring
then
and the barrel is
saturated brine
or to cl
barrel can be facilitated
ing
atform. The closed
is rolled twice a
day
the first two or three days to ensure adequate mi
of the i
ents. Rolling for a
distance of
30
equivalent rotation)
is recommended
).
After
ng, duri
a11y the
first few
• it i
temperature
of fish be ow (0 - ,
the activities
of vari
vi
enzymes in the fish and of
bacterial flora may cause excessive
1
Curing
etion of the sal ng
i
on the
(2),
s
d.
it
is easily bruised
ought to be such
such damage. The
spoils
11y at
the combined
exclusion
retard the activities of
en,joglen,Jus en;lynles, preclude the growth
ibit the oxidation rani
s essential that
, refri
and packaged
ch
When
ner the floating
ng
into i tend to become
remal ndervcf
h. As
of the pack wi 11
reduced and mRY'kpti
be encountered.
oil can be fPII10Vfod
contai
by floatation. Entrance of atmospheric
into the container can be minimized by using
pilk:-nfnc,t and
impermeable containers.
Wooden barrels tend to leak at
seams and
through
11
channels in the
. Hence wooden barrels must
regul
refilled (topped up)
with saturated brine and
the exclusion of oxygen
from
11 be incomplete. It follows
that
and oxygen impermeable containers for pickled
ng should minimize the rate
at which rancidity develops in the cured herring.
The recent introduction of polyethylene barrels
for the
ng of pickled herring encountered resistance
some
of the industry. Claims
were made about the
in flavour and maturation of herring cured in
versus the traditional wooden barrels.
was suggested that the
wooden barrel breathes and has a characteristic
microbial flora bri
ng about the differences referred to.
To determine the validi
and si
ficance of
these factors our 1
niti
a study to
detect and measure the di
, if any, between
herring cured and stored in plastic (high density
polyethylene) and in traditional wooden barrels.
EXPERmENTAL
Atlantic herri
caught by
the n i
off Ya rmouth ,
se i ne duri
N.S. was 1
in
1, 1977. The
herring was stowed onboard the boat uniced. It was
boxed and iced at the time of landing and trucked
to Shedi ac , N. B. about 500 mil es . On
. 2, 1977
the herring was knobbed (head and gut removed) and
two polyethylene and two used wooden barrels of
similar
ty were packed with herring and salt
in ratio
240 lbs herring and 58 lbs salt. On
the Same
,the closed barrels were transported
to the Hal
1
(200 miles)
unrefrigerated truck. 0Be
c and one
barrel
were placed in 1 C
) and one wooden and one
plastic barrel in
(500 F) storage. The barrels
were
ene suppressors were placed
on the
and
suppressors were loaded
with curing salt in order to keep the herring under
the pickle. To facilitate sampling (especially
from wooden barrels) barrel tops were left loose
storage. In the first 5 days the pickle was
to ensure that the pickle was saturated
with salt. Free floati
lipids were regularly removed to avoid tainti
the herring with rancid
li d. Periodical,
ng
, samples were
from the
s and
for the following:
1. Moisture content
2. Salt content
3. Lipid content
4. Free fatty acid content
5. Peroxide value
6. Maturi
7. El
c pattern
8. Direct
a count. Total bacteria
counts on nutrient agar with 0.5 and 10%
salt .
9.
c bacteria count
10.
bacteria count
11.
12.
Overall qual ity
of the
es was determined by
, flavour, appearance and textoverall quality was expressed on a 10pmnt
A score of 7.5-10 denotes
quality and
a score of <4.5 si
fied
equal t ty
Medium quality was rated with a score ranging from
taste
< 7.5 to 4. .
Ma turi
firmness of texture
bone could be separated from the flesh.
was
on
e from 0··3. Accordt
denotes immature and score of 3 denotes
herring. Chemical and microbiological measurements
were carried out using standard nY'()('PrllJ1°P~
RESULTS
The
are inconsistent from one
sampli
other. Thi
be due to the
fact
had to be assembl
from candidates i
in the assessment of pickled herring.
nevertheless, on a particular
sampling date
usabl
nee assessment of
sampl es were made
to each other. Thus,
whether
e, di
to another was
j
to be softer or more rancid should be reflected n the
ve
tude
scores
From this
point of view the
scores do not show
si
ficant differences
es cured and
in wooden or
There are some
differences between
scores assi
to
es
stored at differen temperatures, especially
the third
i
culated as
de and TBA values
FFA in % olei
taken from differdi d not di
ent barre 1
storage.
The e lectrouhoret.tc
not reveal any
taken from the different
difference between
barrel types
different patterns
between
es from the di
storage temperatures and
ng from two sepa rate samp 1ng dates.
The
counts
re 1
counts varied from
wi
ndicati
that
duri
storage. The
port
late count
counts
densi
were less than 2 x
ence of si
fi
assessment.
SUr~MARY
Pickled herring
Is faster at higher temperature.
2. Salted herring and free floati
herring lipids
exposed to air become rancid in
barrel.
3. Herring covered with pickle did not spoil after
one
in open barrels at laC.
ora
r a sli
ncrease decreased
4. Mi
duri
storage. This evidence
that the
ro 1e
mi
sms in the
ra t i on of
herr i ng is I imi
5. The peroxide and TBA values of salted herring
after one year storage in
barrels at laC
were
low. It appears
the brine Iotas
quite
ve in preventing the oxidation of
herring lipids.
6 The e 1pclr.rnnhclrpti
scores suggest
similar in herring cured either in
wooden barrels. These tests
fferences
only in samples cured and held at different
temperatures ,
7. Wooden containers should be leak-proof and
filled up with brine regularly.
8. Leak and breakage proof,
plastic barrel would offer Ch;qrHictpri
from technical point of view could be superior
to that offered by the wooden container.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to express appreciation to Dr.
T. Gil for providing assistance with the electrophoretic analyses of samples, and for Mr. C. Read
for reviewing the manuscript Participation on
taste
by Messrs. G. Sims, C. Co sham, J. Miles
were gnificant oentributions to this study.
REFERENCES
1. Chipman, H.R. and R.
1963. Methods of
Handling Fish
Instruction in
curing and Packing Pickled Herring By
The Canadian Method. Bulletin No. Ll1.
The BioI. Board Of Canada. Ottawa 9p.
On The
2. Inspection Branch. 1972.
on And
ce
, Brine-Cured
Herring
Fisheries and r1arine Service. Inspection Branch, Ottawa, Canada. 23p.
3. Meyer, V. 1965. On the Si
ficance of Proteolytic
In
on Of
Non-Steri
Fish
. Archiv
Fur Fischereiwissenschaft, 15:(3) 245253.
4. Rae, G.A. and J.M Shewan, 1951. The Preservation
of Fresh Herri
The Fishi
News
(London,
No. 1938,
14p.
1.
sani
s
pickli
Pickled herring became rancid
storage
after about 8-9 months. Pickled herring did not
1
n ther
ner, even
was constantly
to free air.
DISCUSSION
Evidence
count n the
the
d
oxi
did not allow such
in the
Because of
differqual
wooden and plastic
vable that subtle differences
in them could also exist.
would have to be detected
Ieve] of probabil i ty before
cDuld be accepted. The
the nexperience of the
2
is
."'::
l~
0/
/0
I
0
storaoe time.
res
viscera
two sto
k n,
es
salte
r-.
u
s st
0
sh
(
lids
c)
0/
/0
i
d
o
% Protein
15.8
7
1
55.1
.2
7.8 (25.2)
w
24
54.3
37
1
.1
53. il
18.6 (25.6)
.2
27.1
5.1
18.6
28.1
6.3
19.4
28.5
6.1
--53.7
*
**
anded on
13/78 sa tura on n mois re p e
Fi sh was
~~
le
pi
dono
canal
15 and stored at ,0 or
~'
,)
ng sarno es
1e
. 2, 1977) in
ged
C
yses
c
0
ts
IStora
in
s
!
I
I
I
+J
&<
I
+J
1
-r-e
+J
ro
s,
::::l
I
OJ
I
C
s,
47.3
.4
23.3
19 . 5
A
I
.+:>
!
I
17.0
20.8
53.7
.0
.0
.3
23.0
20.3
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+J
e-r-
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17.2
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B,
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I~ I
I
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6
1
6
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1
6
2
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6
I
1
2
2
?
v
moisture Phase
ses
ts
as
e
p
e s
1es
pi ckl ed
on Aug. 2
ng
s
t
N
same as
C
on
c on es
Ie 2.
,...-<
N