ABSTRACTThe apparently good shelf stability of salt minced fish produced by the quick salting technique is due to the very low halophilic bacteria content. The nature of the quick salting method and the quality of the curing salt used are responsible for this condition. With no loss in palatability the salted minced fish was rendered stable at 35°C either by reducing water activity to 0.7 or by adding 0.3% sorbic acid into the minced flesh with the curing salt. A sorbic acid residue in the desalted product of 0.1% was less than the limit allowed in some food products