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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #345657
Research Project: Postharvest Sensory, Processing and Packaging of Catfish

Location: Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research

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

Author
item Bland, John
item Bett Garber, Karen
item Li, Carissa
item Brashear, Suzanne
item Lea, Jeanne
item Bechtel, Peter

Submitted to: Food Science and Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/8/2018
Publication Date: 7/27/2018
Citation: Bland, J.M., Bett Garber, K.L., Li, C.H., Brashear, S.S., Lea, J.M., Bechtel, P.J. 2018. Comparison of sensory and instrumental methods for the analysis of texture of cooked individually quick frozen and fresh-frozen catfish fillets. Food Science and Nutrition. 1692-1705. https://doi.10.1002/fsn3.737.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.737

Interpretive Summary: Texture of farm-raised catfish has received much interest, and a method for quickly evaluating the texture is needed. Catfish fillets with two treatments, fresh frozen and individually quick frozen with added phosphate were evaluated for sensory texture and analyzed by mechanical texture. The two sets of catfish samples were compared and found to have slightly different texture qualities. The mechanical texture was determined to predict the sensory texture. This will lead to methods for catfish processors to quickly and conveniently monitor texture quality.

Technical Abstract: Catfish 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 is 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, and was compared to the mechanical analysis of the same fish, using texture profile analysis (TPA). The TPA evaluation was more successful for identifying differences between IQF and fresh frozen catfish, with springiness, resilience, chewiness-1, hardness-1 and residual parameters of springiness, chewiness-1b and hardness-1b being the most significant (prob < 0.0016). 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 others. Predictive equations were developed for sensory texture attributes from various parameters calculated from curves generated from two compressions using a ball probe. In the fresh frozen catfish, sensory attributes flaky, firmness, moisture release, moisture retention, had correlation coefficients of 0.50 or greater. The IQF fish was less predictable. Only flaky and firmness had correlation coefficients of 0.50 or greater. Instrumental texture of catfish should be measured before further processing, such as IQF.