Development of a Quality Index Method (QIM) for Maatjes Herring Stored in Air and Under Modified Atmosphere

The aim of the study was to develop a Quality Index Method (QIM) scheme for maatjes herring stored in air and under a modified atmosphere at 4°C and 10°C. The attributes included in this new scheme are: appearance of skin side and bone side, color of the blood, odor (rancidity and other), taste (rancidity and other), aftertaste and texture. The QIM scheme developed proved to be potentially useful in evaluating and defining the quality of maatjes herring stored in air and under modified atmosphere. Since natural variations and processing of maatjes herring limit the use of the QIM scheme, the scheme must be specified taking the product-specific differences and storage conditions more in detail into account