Sensory and Chemical Changes in Smoked Frog (Rana esculanta) Leg During Cold Storage (4 degrees C +/- 1)

Abstract

Frog and frog leg do not have economic importance in Turkey, so they are not consumed much. They mostly are exported to other countries. Especially frog leg is consumed at Italian and French restaurants and at the holiday villages in South shores of Turkey. Turkey is one of the most important countries that export frog. As Turkey supports the hygienic criteria of EU countries, Turkey can sell to developed countries such as France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. In this study, it is aimed to assess whether the frog leg is proper for smoking process and to detect the nutrient composition and quality changes that occur during the 4 degrees C+/-1 storage of smoked frog leg. In this study, the analyses were done with two repeats. Different parameters such as protein (%), crude lipid, crude ash, moisture (%), salt, pH, TVB-N, sensory during the cold storage were analysed. The crude protein, moisture, crude lipid, crude ash, salt, sensory score, TVB-N and pH contents of fresh frog were 22.21, 79.47, 1.05, 1.83, 0.66, 8.53, 11.73% mg/100 g and 5.26, respectively. While the initial sensory score, TVB-N and pH content of hot smoked frog leg were 8.71, 18.64 mg/100 g and 5.49, at the end of 17 days of storage, these values changed to 4.03, 28.13 mg/100 g and 5.87, respectively. According to the study results, frog leg was found to be proper for hot smoking process and it is detected that hot smoked frog legs (R. esculanta) conserved their sensorial characteristics for 15 days being not spoiled.