A study published in the Journal of Food Science examines the use of high-pressure processing (HPP) instead of traditional steam precooking on skipjack tuna loins. The researchers subjected the loins to HPP at 150–600 MPa for 1–5 min and compared them to loins that underwent steam cooking for 10 min.
The researchers found that HPP was capable of producing protein‐denatured loins with the capability to retain water, which resulted in loins with higher yield, moisture content, and water holding capacity than precooked loins. In addition, the extent of color changes of HPP loins was less than that of precooked loins. HPP at 450 and 600 MPa provided superior textural property of loins in terms of hardness and springiness than steam cooking, which might have resulted from the different behavior of denatured proteins within HPP loins as compared with that within precooked loins as indicated by the microstructural analysis results.
Additionally, the microbial counts of HPP loins were significantly reduced when the applied pressure level was higher than 300 MPa. The researchers found that HPP at 450 MPa and above has the potential as an alternative to steaming if microbial inactivation is a concern. At the same time, HPP could maintain the yield and result in superior selected quality attributes of tuna loins.
Based on the results obtained in this study, the researchers concluded that “HPP has a potential to replace the highly energy‐intensive steam precooking step, which is traditionally required in a canned tuna production process.”
Abstract