ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Food Chemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging Preservation Technologies for Aquatic Products: Nanotech, Biopreservation, Intelligent Packaging, and Physical MethodsView all articles
Evolution of quality characteristics and bacterial community in vacuum-packed soft-shell mud crab during slurry ice cooling and cold storage
Provisionally accepted
- 1Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
- 2Ningbo Dasheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Ningbo, China
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Slurry ice is known to extend the shelf life of refrigerated seafood, yet its specific impact on the quality and microbiota of soft-shell mud crabs during storage has not been well characterized. This study examined changes in the K value, xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity, free amino acids, flavor nucleotides, and bacterial community succession in the muscle of vacuum-packed soft-shell crabs during slurry ice cooling and cold storage. The results showed that the crabs retained acceptable biochemical freshness (K value < 40%) for up to seven days. XOD activity increased over time. Gly, L-Arg, L-Ala, and L-Glu were identified as the predominant FAAs, and their marked reduction significantly influenced flavor development. Adenosine monophosphate was the most abundant flavor nucleotide, followed by inosine monophosphate; the decline in both compounds contributed to a reduction in the equivalent umami concentration. Furthermore, while the α-diversity of the muscle bacterial community remained stable, an increase was observed in four families—primarily Comamonadaceae and Shewanellaceae. Notably, the rise in amplicon sequence variant 936 (ASV936, assigned to Shewanella) by day 7 suggested the onset of spoilage. These findings demonstrate that slurry ice cooling combined with cold storage can effectively maintain the edible quality of soft-shell crabs for seven days, offering a viable method for short-term preservation.
Keywords: bacterial community, Cold storage, flavor, K value, Slurry ice, soft-shell crab
Received: 07 Dec 2025; Accepted: 29 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Sun, Han, Liu, Mu, Wang, Shi and Ye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yangfang Ye
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