The Effectiveness of Official Methods to Measure the Real Glazing Percentage in Frozen Seafood: An Analysis with Frozen Pacific White Shrimp (L. vannamei)

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of official methods to quantify the real glazing percentage in frozen Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) with different glazing percentages. Samples of frozen peeled shrimp were glazed with cold water (0 ± 1°C) at glazing levels of 15, 30, 40, 50, and 60%. The glazing percentage was quantified based on Brazilian methodologies (INMETRO and MAPA) and International methodologies (CODEX, AOAC, and NIST). The official methods were inefficient in quantifying the real glazing percentage, especially with regard to the samples containing higher glazing percentages (> 30%). As an alternative, changes were done to improve the glazing measurement method (mix of the best parameters from all methodologies), which best describes the reliable value of the glazing percentage of frozen shrimp samples and confirms that this methodology can be an alternative used by inspectors after collaborative study for validation. In this sense, a critical review and possible changes in the official methodologies may be suggested in order to improve them for use to combat economic fraud in the seafood frozen products.

KEYWORDS:

• Seafood
• quality
• freezing
• glazing
• economic fraud

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education (CAPES) for the research grant awarded to the first author.