Discrimination between Fresh and Frozen-Thawed Fish Involved in Food Safety and Fraud Protection.

This study aims to discriminate fresh fish from frozen/thawed by identification of the key metabolites that are altered during the freezing/thawing processing. Atlantic salmon ( and bullet tuna () were selected as they are representative of broad consumption, and susceptible to pathogen contamination. Atlantic salmon samples were subjected to the following regimes: -20 °C (24h) and -35 °C (15 h) freezing, then thawed respectively in the blast chiller and in the cold room and analyzed immediately or after 10 days; (2) bullet tuna samples were frozen at -18 °C and thawed after 15, 30 and 90 days. High resolution mass spectrometry based on untargeted metabolomic analyses and statistical data treatment confirmed significant variations in the quantity of certain metabolites: the amount of l-phenylalanine in salmon increased immediately after thawing while that of anserine decreased. The concentration of l-arginine and its metabolites was altered at the 10th day after thawing rendering them promising markers of salmon freezing/thawing. As regards bullet tuna, compounds resulting from lipid degradation (l-α-Glyceryl-phosphoryl-choline and N-methyl-ethanolamine phosphate) increased notably during the storage period. This approach could be used to reveal common fraudulent incidents such as deliberate replacement of fresh fish with frozen/thawed, with food safety risks as the primary implication.