Akademik Məlumat İdarəetmə Sistemi
Other, pp.313-314, 2025
Crayfish and shrimp, which belong to the class Crustacea, are considered to be highly demanded products in the food industry. They are widely used in the national cuisines and food industries of various countries. These marine and freshwater organisms have a rich protein content, taste and biological value, and provide the human body with amino acids, microelements (zinc, iron, iodine, magnesium) and omega-3 fatty acids. However, crustaceans are included in the category of perishable food products and require strict control during their storage, transportation and sale [1]. Therefore, the correct and systematic assessment of their organoleptic indicators is extremely important from the point of view of product safety, quality and suitability for use. The quality indicators of crustacean meat must comply with the requirements of CAC/CL 31-1999 adopted by the European Union. The organoleptic method is used to determine the initial quality indicators of crustaceans. The organoleptic method determines the appearance, color, smell, consistency and taste of crustaceans. The first and most important stage of organoleptic evaluation is visual inspection. During visual inspection, fresh (live) crayfish should be actively moving, their surface should be shiny and moist, and their eyes should be black and transparent. The color of fresh crayfish caught is dark green, green-brown or blue-black, and when cooked, it becomes red or orange. If there are unnatural darkening, yellowing or graying on the surface, this is an indicator of microbiological contamination and spoilage. The smell of fresh crayfish should be clean, without foreign odors. Its consistency should be elastic, firm, and when pressed with a finger, it should immediately return to its previous state. Taste evaluation is carried out only after thermal processing and allows you to assess the freshness and usefulness of the product. Thermally processed crayfish should have a pleasant and delicate taste and should not give off any foreign taste [2]. When evaluating the quality indicators of shrimps by the organoleptic method, the body of fresh shrimps should be intact, firm and shiny, and the connection between the head and body should not be broken. The color of fresh shrimp can be gray, pink-gray, green-gray shades, and when cooked, they turn orange, pink and reddish. Fresh shrimp have a unique fresh smell and should not emit any foreign odor. Their consistency should be elastic, firm, water-retaining, and when pressed with a finger, they should immediately return to their previous state. The taste of shrimp that have undergone thermal processing should be slightly sweet, with a pleasant delicate taste [3]. River crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) and shrimp (Palaemon elegans) caught from the Mingachevir reservoir were selected as the object of research and the initial quality indicators were determined by the organoleptic method. The caught river crayfish are motile, green-brown in color, their body is firm, elastic, the surface is shiny and moist, and does not emit any foreign odor. The meat of cooked shrimp has a pleasant delicate taste. During the organoleptic evaluation, the body of the gray Palaemon elegans shrimp was firm, shiny and elastic, and no foreign odor was observed in the shrimp. When cooked, it turned orange, and the edible tail part had a delicate and pleasant taste. These indicators are a reliable source of information for both the producer and the consumer, highlighting the importance of proper storage and processing processes.