Physicochemical and microbiological changes in gutted and ungutted red tilapia (Oreochromis ssp) stored in ice

We assessed the degree of freshness of gutted and ungutted red tilapia (Oreochromis ssp) using physicochemical and microbiological analyses of samples of gutted red tilapia on days 0, 3, 5, 8, 11, 14 and 17 and of ungutted red tilapia on days 0, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14 and 16. The total sample size was five fish stored in ice at temperatures between 0 and 4 °C. Different methods were used to study the degree of freshness: pH, water holding capacity (WHC) and microbiological analysis (aerobic mesophilic count). Once we obtained the results, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine possible correlations between the values of deterioration and the data obtained by other analysis methods. The one-way ANOVA showed that statistically significant differences (P