Comparison of sensory and instrumental methods for the analysis of texture of cooked individually quick frozen and fresh-frozen catfish fillets.

Catfish fillet texture is important to consumers, especially if the texture is not what the consumer expects. Therefore, it is important to be able to assure that texture quality is consistent. Texture is a humanly perceived sensory trait and can be costly to processors when texture quality is substandard. Instrumental methods of monitoring texture are much less costly over time than maintaining a sensory quality panel. The purpose of this research was to develop methods for monitoring texture quality using reliable instrumental methods. A descriptive sensory texture panel evaluated fresh-frozen and individually quick frozen (IQF) catfish fillets and was compared to the instrumental analysis of the same cooked fish, using texture profile analysis (TPA). The TPA evaluation was more successful for identifying differences between IQF and fresh-frozen catfish, with the most significance (p < 0.02) seen for the attributes springiness, resilience, chewiness-1, hardness-1, and residual parameters of springiness, chewiness-1, chewiness-1b, and hardness-1b. For sensory evaluation, only moisture release and moisture retention were this significant. Overall, IQF fillets were more moist and cohesive, with fresh-frozen fillets greater in all other parameters. Predictive equations were developed for sensory texture attributes from various TPA attributes calculated from the compression-force curves generated from two compressions of a ball probe. In the fresh-frozen catfish, sensory attributes firmness, flaky, moisture retention, and residual cohesiveness of mass had correlation coefficients (R) of 0.50 or greater. For the IQF catfish, all sensory attributes had an R of less than 0.4. The firmness sensory attribute had TPA predictor variables in both fresh-frozen and IQF that consisted mainly of hardness, chewiness, or thickness-related attributes. Based on results, instrumental texture of catfish should be measured before further processing, such as IQF.

Effect of Par Frying on Composition and Texture of Breaded and Battered Catfish.

Catfish is often consumed as a breaded and battered fried product; however, there is increasing interest in breaded and battered baked products as a healthier alternative. Par frying can improve the texture properties of breaded and battered baked products, but there are concerns about the increase in lipid uptake from par frying. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of different batters (rice, corn, and wheat) and the effect of par frying on the composition and texture properties of baked catfish. Catfish fillets were cut strips and then coated with batters, which had similar viscosities. Half of the strips were par fried in 177 °C vegetable oil for 1 min and the other half were not par fried. Samples were baked at 177 °C for 25 min. Analysis included % batter adhesion, cooking loss, protein, lipid, ash, and moisture, plus hardness and fracture quality measured using a texture analyzer. A trained sensory panel evaluated both breading and flesh texture attributes. Results found the lipid content of par fried treatments were significantly higher for both corn and wheat batters than for non-par fried treatments. Sensory analysis indicated that the texture of the coatings in the par fried treatments were significantly greater for hardness attributes. Fillet flakiness was significantly greater in the par fried treatments and corn-based batters had moister fillet strips compared to the wheat flour batters. Texture analyzer hardness values were higher for the par fried treatments.

Chemical and nutritional properties of channel and hybrid catfish byproducts.

The objective of this study was to chemically characterize both channel and hybrid catfish parts including heads, frames, viscera, skin, and fillet trimming mince. Triplicate samples of channel and hybrid catfish byproduct parts were obtained from a large commercial catfish processor and analyzed for percent moisture, lipid, protein, ash, and amino acid and fatty acid profiles were determined. The content of the off-flavor compounds, 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) and geosmin were also determined. The lipid content of samples were 13.6% and 10.0% for channel and hybrid skins, 17.7% and 21.4% for channel and hybrid viscera, 20.0% and 19.1% for channel and hybrid frames, and 9.7% and 9.3% for channel and hybrid heads. The protein content of samples ranged from a high of 22.8% for channel catfish skins, to a low of 13.4% for channel frames. Low levels of geosmin, <1 ppb, were detected in the byproduct samples, while no MIB was detected. Palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acid comprised approximately 80% of the fatty acids in the byproduct tissues. The amino acid profiles indicated that the catfish mince had high levels of lysine and methionine and other essential amino acids. Results from this study will be used in the development of new value-added products from catfish byproducts.

RNA-Seq Analysis of Developing Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) Embryos Reveals Parallel Expression Patterns among Allergen and Lipid Metabolism Genes.

The pecan nut is a nutrient-rich part of a healthy diet full of beneficial fatty acids and antioxidants, but can also cause allergic reactions in people suffering from food allergy to the nuts. The transcriptome of a developing pecan nut was characterized to identify the gene expression occurring during the process of nut development and to highlight those genes involved in fatty acid metabolism and those that commonly act as food allergens. Pecan samples were collected at several time points during the embryo development process including the water, gel, dough, and mature nut stages. Library preparation and sequencing were performed using Illumina-based mRNA HiSeq with RNA from four time points during the growing season during August and September 2012. Sequence analysis with Trinotate software following the Trinity protocol identified 133,000 unigenes with 52,267 named transcripts and 45,882 annotated genes. A total of 27,312 genes were defined by GO annotation. Gene expression clustering analysis identified 12 different gene expression profiles, each containing a number of genes. Three pecan seed storage proteins that commonly act as allergens, Car i 1, Car i 2, and Car i 4, were significantly up-regulated during the time course. Up-regulated fatty acid metabolism genes that were identified included acyl-[ACP] desaturase and omega-6 desaturase genes involved in oleic and linoleic acid metabolism. Notably, a few of the up-regulated acyl-[ACP] desaturase and omega-6 desaturase genes that were identified have expression patterns similar to the allergen genes based upon gene expression clustering and qPCR analysis. These findings suggest the possibility of coordinated accumulation of lipids and allergens during pecan nut embryogenesis.