• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.417-425
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• 2015

Semi-dried conger eel Conger myriaster is considered as a health food in Korea due to its richness in vitamins, minerals, proteins and omega-3 fatty acids. This study characterize the sanitary quality of commercial semi-dried conger eel for developing high quality semi-dried products and suggested the guideline for controlling the quality. Moisture content ranged from 41.2% to 73.4% (mean: 61.5%), volatile basic nitrogen ranged from 16.1 to 93.6 mg/100 g (mean: 55.1 mg/100 g), and peroxide value ranged from 15.2 to 69.8 meq/kg. Viable cell counts ranged between 6.51 and 8.53 log CFU/g, while the Escherichia coli count ranged from undetectable to 4.6 log CFU/g. Based on these chemical and microbial findings, we suggest that provisions be established for development of high quality semi-dried conger eel as follows: 50-68% for moisture content, < 50 mg/100 g for volatile basic nitrogen content, < 60 meq/kg for peroxide value, and negative for E. coli. Among the 16 commercial semi-dried conger eel products used in this study, the standard-passed product was only GS-L.