Effect of Citrus aurantium juice as a disinfecting agent on quality and bacterial communities of striped catfish steaks stored at −20 °C

Sodium hypochlorite is generally used as a disinfectant in washing of freshwater fishes where the safety aspect of health is of concern. Although plant-based essential oils and synthetic chemical agents have been applied, they might contain toxic substances, are expensive and can cause undesirable quality. This research aims to fill the knowledge gap necessary to validate Citrus aurantium juice as a disinfecting agent for preserving striped catfish steaks at −20 °C for 28 days. Fifty (50) ppm sodium hypochlorite was used as a commercial disinfectant (control). The results showed that a negative color characteristic (higher a* and increased b*) was found in the control but not in striped catfish steaks immersed in C. aurantium juice (TM) on days 14 and 28. No significant differences were found in the peroxide value among the treatments on days 14 and 28 (P > 0.05). A lower accumulation of trichloroacetic acid soluble peptides was detected in TM but not in control, while total volatile basic nitrogen of all treatments was up to standard of fish quality during storage. Contrastingly, the total viable count of both treatments increased to >7.0 log CFU/g on day 28 which did not meet the edible limit of standard for freshwater fishes. The spoilage microbial community was observed on days 0 and 28 of storage which showed a decrease in relative abundance of Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Brochothrix, Lactococcus, Carnobacterium, Psychrobacter, and Vagococcus as found in TM on day 28, when compared to the control. Thus, these results implied that C. aurantium juice could replace sodium hypochlorite as an alternative disinfecting agent to control the microbiological spoilage and physico-chemical quality of striped catfish steaks.