Seafood products are one of the most perishable foods, and their shelf life is limited by
enzymatic and microbial spoilage. Developing methods to extend the shelf life of fresh fish could
reduce food waste in the fishery industry, retail stores, and private households. In recent decades, the
application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as bioprotective cultures has become a promising tool. In
this study, we evaluated the use of four starter cultures, previously selected for their properties as
bioprotective agents, for sea bass and sea bream burgers biopreservation. Starter cultures impacted
the microbial populations, biochemical parameters (pH, TVB-N), and sensory properties of fish
burgers, during 10 days of storage at 4 C and then 20 days at 8 C in modified atmosphere packaging
(MAP). Also, storage time influenced the microbial and physicochemical characteristics of all the
tested samples, except for TVB-N values, which were significantly higher in the uninoculated burgers.
The volatilome changed in the different treatments, and in particular, the samples supplemented with
starter presented a profile that described their rapid growth and colonization, with the production
of typical molecules derived from their metabolism. The addition of bioprotective cultures avoided
bloating spoilage and improved the sensory parameters of the burgers. The shelf life of the fish
burgers supplemented with starter cultures could be extended up to 12 days.
