## 1 Introduction  
Anchovies are a pelagic fish species belonging to the _Engraulidae_ family [1]. They are among the most captured fish species in world fisheries, having had the highest catch rates for many years. The European anchovy (_Engraulis encrasicolus_) ranks third among common anchovy species, with approximately 514,752 tons produced in 2020 [2]. Anchovies are known ecologically and economically as the most important fish species for the Black Sea ecosystem, as well as for other seas in different countries [1, 3, 4]. Anchovies are a well-liked and commonly consumed fish in both human and animal diets around the world [2]. Anchovy has a high nutritional value, mainly due to its high polyunsaturated fatty acid content, particularly omega-3 fatty acids [5]. Our previous findings demonstrated that approximately 25 g of European anchovies caught from the Black Sea is enough to comply with the daily recommended n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake for human consumption [5]. Moreover, it was also found that approximately 130 g of edible anchovy meat provides satisfactory levels of eicosapentaenoic acid + docosahexaenoic acid (EPA + DHA) according to recommended weekly requirements from several health authorities [5,6]. However, anchovies have a limited catching season (from October to March), which is usually accompanied by a high production volume. Anchovies are also highly perishable small pelagic fish due to their high fat content and the rapid autolytic degradation, particularly in the abdominal portion, that occurs during storage [7]. Therefore, several preservation techniques are used to distribute high catch rates throughout the year. Among these are freezing, which is most commonly used, followed by salting and marinating. Towards the beginning of new anchovy seasons, frozen anchovies have low consumer demand; therefore, they are sold under value for either human consumption or as animal feed (e.g., tuna feed). Moreover, this species has a better market value and consumer acceptance when marketed as either salted or smoked in comparison to frozen, unprocessed products [8]. Salting is one of the cheapest preserving/processing techniques traditionally applied in the fisheries industry, particularly in undeveloped countries. However, this technique is also now commonly applied around the world, including in developing/developed countries, since it is a method of delaying fish spoilage and preventing food health hazards. It is also used prior to other processing methods such as marinating, drying, fermenting and smoking. Various fish salting methods are known, although the most common ones are dry-salting and brining. The raw materials used for salting can be either fresh or previously frozen. Since fresh anchovies are very susceptible to spoilage, freezing raw materials is commonly applied in the fish processing sector [9]. Moreover, past studies have demonstrated that anchovies are susceptible to parasite infection, particularly with _Anisakis simplex_ and _A. pegreffii_[10, 11, 12]. As the freezing of fish is one of the methods that has been reported to inactivate the larvae of parasites in seafood products, the European Commission requires the freezing of the fish at a temperature of no more than \(-20\)\({}^{\circ}\)C for 24 h prior to such industrial processes for fish products when they are to be consumed raw or semi-raw without cooking [13,14]. In the USA, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requires that all fish and shellfish intended for raw or semi-raw (e.g., marinated or partly cooked) consumption be blast-frozen to \(-35\)\({}^{\circ}\)C or below for 15 h or be completely frozen to \(-20\)\({}^{\circ}\)C or below for 7 days [15,16]. It was claimed that freezing might affect the quality of traditional fish products due to its effect on the texture and protein structure of the fish muscle [17,13,17,18,19].