Effect of vegetables gums on proximate, functional, optical and sensory attributes of catfish nuggets during chilled storage

Abstract

The present work was aimed to investigate the possibility of incorporating vegetable gums as binders in nuggets prepared from freshwater catfish, Pangasius pangasius. Guar gum and gum Acacia, which are well-known texturising agents were added in varying quantities during the preparation of the nuggets. Proximate analysis indicated that moisture content decreased from 78.9 to 74.0%, with increasing concentration of gum (0 – 2%), and so did fat content, from 6.1 to 5.4%. Protein content went up from 15.5% in control to 19.3% in treated sample. Control sample underwent maximum cooking loss (3.5%) hereas both treatments T4 (2% guar gum, w/w) and T7 (2% gum Acacia, w/w), exhibited minimum loss (2.7%) CIE L*a*b* values indicated significant lightening of the product during prolonged storage at (0 0C). Textural and sensory evaluation data also indicated that vegetable gums could be incorporated successfully in fish nuggets to improve their texture and sensory attributes. In all the treated and stored samples (0 0C, 60 days), the presence of bacteria, yeast and mould were well within permissible limits ( 3.0 x 102 pound cfu per gram and 2.8 x 101 pound cfu per gram respectively).