Spoilage of Fish in the Vessels at Sea: 5. Bilgy Fish

Abstract

Offensive "bilgy" odours develop when fish are stored in contact with slime-soaked wooden surfaces. Anaerobic bacteria develop in the slime layer between the surfaces of the fish and the wood.The muscle of bilgy fish has a higher hydrogen sulphide and a lower mercaptan content than that of similar fish spoiling in ice but not in contact with wood. The trimethylamine and volatile acid values are usually, but not consistently, high in bilgy fish.In the observations described in this paper, the fillets of fish stored in contact with dirty pen boards acquired a distinct bilgy odour when the anaerobic bacteria on the skin exceeded 10⁶ per cm.², at which point the hydrogen sulphide content of the muscle was 0.05 mg. or more per 100 g. of fish.