Water sorption and shelf-life of dry-cured cod muscle in humid environments

Dry-cured fish includes products primarily preserved through having a reduced water activity, due to drying or salt addition or both, and occasionally secondarily preserved by smoking or addition of preservative chemicals. The popularity of such products is world-wide, although many of the most significant markets occur in the humid tropics. Storage of dry-cured fish in humid environments considerably reduces the shelf-life of the product otherwise expected in temperate environments and leads to large-scale loss of product or product value. The investigation was carried out to determine the effect of different processing methods on storage life of cod muscle in humid conditions. [Continues.]