Post-mortem changes in farmed spotted Babylon snail (Babylonia areolata) during iced storage.

Post-mortem changes in farmed spotted Babylon snail stored in ice for 7 days were evaluated using nucleotide degradation products, K-value, total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA-N), organic acid, free amino acids and biogenic amines. During a 7-day ice storage, K-value, TVB-N, TMA-N and organic acids contents increased with increasing storage time (p < 0.05). Changes in free amino acid, such as aspartic acid, serine, glutamic acid, glycine, arginine and proline were observed throughout the ice storage (p < 0.05), while total free amino acids were found to decrease significantly (p < 0.05). Biogenic amines found in snail muscle during ice storage were tyramine, putrescine, cadaverine, agmatine and histamine. Bacteria counts of snail muscle exceeded 7 log CFU/g, which was considered as the limit for acceptability after 7 days of iced storage. This result initiates the use of ice storage as a preliminary treatment for snails transported from farms.