Exploring high hydrostatic pressure for enhancing the preservation of white and dark muscle fish fillets stored at different packaging systems under refrigeration

High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) is an old preservation method. However, there is still a gap in the literature about their promising conditions for improving the shelf life and quality of different fish groups (dark and white muscle) at different packaging systems (air and vacuum) stored under refrigeration. Since it is crucial to boost optimization research and enable HHP industrial commercialization, this study aimed to identify promising high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) conditions to extend the maximum fresh fish quality of dark and white muscle fillets stored under air-packing and vacuum-packing (DM-AP, DM-VP, WM-AP, and WM-VP, respectively), considering the bacteriological (total viable aerobic count), physicochemical (lipid oxidation, lightness, redness, yellowness, total color changes, and hardness or firmness), and sensory (appearance, color, odor, texture, and acceptability) characteristics during refrigerated storage. The systematic literature search was carried out in four databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science) to retrieve articles from 2001 to 2023 published in English. A total of 3,922 articles were retrieved, of which 49 were eligible for systematic review and 47 for meta analysis. Overall, the best HHP conditions for DM-AP (400 MPa/5 min/5 degrees C) and DM-VP (400 MPa/5 min/20 degrees C) extended the microbial and sensory shelf life from about 6 to > 9 days with a positive effect on color (?E = 4). Concerning WM-AP, HHP at 220 MPa/10 min/25 degrees C and 250 MPa/5 min/3 degrees C did not affect lipid oxidation and extended the sensory acceptability by 2-4 days but negatively influenced hardness and color (?E > 5). For WMVP, HHP at 300 MPa/3 or 10 min/10-20 degrees C could prolong the microbial and sensory shelf life by 7 days without affecting hardness, decreased lipid oxidation, and color changes (?E < 4). Therefore, HHP may enable the shelf life extension of dark and white muscle fish fillets stored under refrigeration in aerobiosis and vacuum while retaining their quality.