Compositional and chill storage characteristics of microwave blanched sutchi catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) fillets.

Abstract

The effect of microwave blanching on quality characteristics of vacuum and conventional polyethylenepacked sutchi catfish fillets was evaluated under chilled condition. Emphasis has been given to retain the sensory characteristics such as colour and textural properties, which is a major problem in sutchi catfish fillets during extended chill storage. In general, microwave blanching imposed minimum changes on fatty acid and mineral composition of fish meat. A marginal increase in fat content was recorded after microwave heating of fish fillets. The microwave-blanched fillets showed minimum cooking loss of 3.2 mL per 100 g meat. A slower increase in spoilage parameters was obtained with microwave-blanched samples compared with unblanched samples, demonstrating the higher storage stability of the sample under chilled conditions. Microwave heating of fish fillets coupled with quick-chilling and packing under vacuum improved the colour and texture stability of sutchi catfish fillets to a considerable extent. Microwave blanching increased the hardness and chewiness values and decreased the stiffness values of fish fillets. The biochemical and sensory evaluation of microwave-blanched and vacuum-packed sutchi catfish fillets showed extended storage life of 21 days, compared with 12 days for unblanched vacuum-packed samples