Development of shelf-stable, ready to cook (RTC) intermediate moisture (IM) shrimp and its shelf life extension using hurdle technology.

Frozen shrimp is a major commodity exported from India. A hurdle technology was employed for the shelf life extension of intermediate moisture (IM) shrimp at ambient temperature. The shrimps were salted (10% w/v), dried in an infra-red dryer (60°C, 6-8 h) to the moisture level of 30-32%, packaged in PET/POLY (polyethylene terephthalate) bags, subjected to gamma radiation (5 kGy) and stored at ambient temperature (26-28 °C) for 6 months. Initial bacterial count (TBC) was 3.20±0.26 and 1.61±0.09 log CFU/g for control and irradiated (5 kGy) samples respectively. TBC reduced to 2.03±0.17, 0.36±0.09 log CFU/g for control and 5 kGy samples respectively after 6 months of storage at room temperature. The total volatile base nitrogen (TVBN) content was increased to 95.22±4.78, 84.72±2.58 mg N/100g for control and 5 kGy samples from initial value of 33.20±0.40 and 33.32±0.40 mg N/100g respectively. Similarly, trimethyl amine (TMA) content was found to be increased from...