Changes in the ¹H NMR Metabolic Profile of Mussels (Mytilus Galloprovincialis) with Storage at 0°C Check Access

Mussels are rich in minerals and vitamins and mussel fat is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids which are biologically important and have been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. Although mussels are available in the market, most are kept alive on ice or refrigerated (2–4°C) until consumed. The shelf life of mussels is limited, primarily due to a variety of microbial and biochemical degradation mechanisms depending on the duration and conditions of storage as well as the initial quality of the product. There are many well established traditional analytical techniques and methods available to assess the quality of seafood, including sensory evaluation based on quality index method, microbial inspection based on total viable counts, biochemical methods related, and proteome analysis. Although chemical and microbiological methods are useful both for research and product development, they are not practical for routine use, as they require expensive laboratory equipment and trained staff, are destructive, and can be labor intensive and time consuming. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a technique able to provide detailed chemical information on a wide range of compounds simultaneously present in a sample. In combination with multivariate analysis, NMR is recognize to make available relevant information on the composition of food in many area of food science such as foodstuffs quality, raw material safety, and authentication. The goal of this work was to investigate the NMR metabolic changes in the aqueous extracts of Mytilus galloprovincialis samples stored at 0° over a period of 7 days and to find putative metabolites-markers influenced by the conservation conditions.