Carbon monoxide keeps tilapia fillets' muscle colour

Carbon monoxide can be utilised to retain the muscle colour of tilapia fillets, according to a new report from the University of Florida published in the Food Science Journal.

The study was conducted by D. Mantilla, H.G. Kristinsson, M.O. Balaban, W.S. Otwell, and S. Raghavan from the Aquatic Food Products Program, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and M.A. Chapman from the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, at the University of Florida.

They compared the postmortem treatment of tilapia fillets with 100 percent CO and euthanasia of live tilapia with CO for their ability to stabilise the colour of white and red muscle of tilapia fillets.

Both postmortem CO treatment and CO euthanasia were effective in increasing the redness and lightness of tilapia white and red muscle.