## 4 Conclusions  
Due to the unpalatable high salt concentration (approximately 16 to 20% \(w/w\)) in salted cod fish muscle, salt-cured and dried salt-cured cod must be desalted before consumption.  
Figure 5: Microbial evolution ((**A**) Total aerobic mesophiles; (**B**) Total aerobic psychrophiles; (**C**) Enterobacteriaceae; and (**D**) Yeast and moulds) in control () and high-pressure processed desalted cod samples at 400 MPa (**A**) and 550 MPa (**\(\bullet\)**), with a pressure holding time of 5 min for 28 days of storage at 4 \({}^{\circ}\)C. Empty dots meant values lower than 1 log units (or 1.7 log units for yeast and moulds), which corresponded to the detection limit. Different letters denote significant differences (\(p<0.05\)) during storage times (a–d) and between conditions (A–C).  
During this process, several changes occur in the physicochemical quality parameters and enzymatic activities. Cod pieces desalted over 16 h at two different temperatures (4 and 20 \({}^{\circ}\)C) showed an increase in water content and a decrease in salt content, as expected. After 16 h, the desalted cod reached 75 and 2% of water and salt content, respectively. The pH and TMA content increased with the desalting time during the first 4 h but remained constant thereafter. However, soluble protein in the cod muscle decreased over the desalting time, which can be explained by its dissolution in the desalting water. Regarding endogenous enzymes activities, cathepsins' (B and D) and acid phosphatase activities decreased during desalting, while lipase activity increased significantly to similar values when desalting was carried out at 4 and 20 \({}^{\circ}\)C, but this occurred faster for the latter temperature.  
Afterwards, the desalted cod quality after high-pressure processing (400 and 550 MPa for 5 min) was evaluated by the study of microbiological and physicochemical parameters during 28 days of refrigerated storage (4 \({}^{\circ}\)C). Both pressure levels were effective on the inactivation of the studied deteriorative microorganisms in desalted cod, allowing a shelf life extension from less than 7 days to between 14 and 21 days. Overall, these results report the usefulness of HPP to extend the microbial shelf life of desalted cod, although it is still necessary to evaluate other quality parameters, such as textural and sensorial analyses. Furthermore, investigating the effects of HPP on the physicochemical quality of desalted cod would be interesting.  
Conceptualization, L.G.F., I.D. and J.A.S.; methodology, L.G.F. and J.A.S.; validation, L.G.F.; formal analysis, L.G.F., M.J.M. and J.D.; investigation, L.G.F., M.J.M., J.D., R.P.Q., C.A.P. and J.A.S.; resources, I.D. and J.A.S.; writing--original draft preparation, L.G.F. and M.J.M.; writing--review and editing, L.G.F.; visualization, L.G.F.; supervision, J.A.S.; project administration, J.A.S.; and funding acquisition, J.A.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This work received financial support from FCT/MCTES (LA/P/0008/2020 DOI 10.54499/LA/P/0008/2020, UIDP/50006/2020 DOI 10.54499/UIDB/50006/2020) through national funds. Thanks are also due to FCT/MCTES for financing the PhD grant of [PERSON] (SFRH/BD/137036/2018 and COVID/BD/153220/2023).  
Not applicable.  
Dataset available on request from the authors.  
The author, [PERSON], was employed by the company Hiperpheric SA. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.