Feny Mentang, Roike Iwan Montolalu, Henny Adeleida Dien, Ayub Meko, Siegfried Berhimpon
Background: Skipjack pampis, a typical seafood dish fromManado, North Sulawesi, is made from smoked Skipjack(Katsuwonus pelamis L.). Our earlier research showed thatadding liquid smoke (LS) to smoked skipjack considerably re-duced the amount of benzo(a)pyrene in the fillet while alsoenhancing its sensory qualities. Objective: The study tried to examine the shelf life andpresence of pathogens in LS Skipjack pampis stored in modi-fied atmosphere packaging (MAP) and vacuum packaging(VP) with 100% N2 for 75 days at room temperature. Methods: At 0, 3, 6, 9, 25, 50, and 75 days of storage, mi-crobiological and organoleptic characteristics were noted.Samples were analyzed at 0, 3, 6, 9, 25, 50, and 75 days forwater content, pH, total plate count (TPC), and pathogenicbacteria (coliform, E. coli, Salmonella sp, and vibrio). Sensoryanalysis such as appearance, flavor, taste, and texture hasalso been determined using the Triangle test. Results:We found that the TPC of Skipjack pampis kept ina 7.8 x 103 CFU/g VP and 7.0 x104 CFU/g MAP were still goodfor 25 days but rose significantly at 50 d and 75 days in thesample which used the MAP method. However, the samplesthat were packed in VP were still acceptable after 50 days(6.9 x 104 CFU/g) and 75 days (9.9 x 104 CFU/g). The flavor,taste, and odor could still be tolerated in VP until 75 days ofstorage while in MAP, the products were just acceptable only25 days of being kept. Pathogenic bacteria were not found inthe analyzed samples.Conclusion:The results showed that vacuum packagingwas better than MAP for Cakalang pampis.