Investigating the Effect of Various Sous-Vide Cooking Conditions on Protein Structure and Texture Characteristics of Tilapia Fillet Using Synchrotron Radiation-Based FTIR

The effects of various sous-vide (SV) cooking conditions (50-60℃, 30-60 min) on physicochemical properties related to the texture characteristics, protein structure/degradation, and sensory acceptability of tilapia fillet (Oreochromis niloticus) were investigated. With an increasing temperature and processing time of SV cooking, protein degradation (of both myofibrils and connective tissue) was more pronounced, as evaluated by the decrease in water- and salt-soluble proteins, total collagen, as well as the changes in the ratio of secondary protein structures (α-helix, β-sheet, β-turn, etc.), which were determined by synchrotron-FTIR (SR-FTIR). These degradations were associated with the improvement of meat tenderness, as estimated by shear force and texture profile analyzer (TPA) results. Among all SV conditions, using 60 ℃ for 45 min seems to be the optimal condition for tilapia meat, since it delivered the best results for texture characteristics and acceptability (p < 0.05). Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) results clearly demonstrated that the highest texture-liking score of this condition was well associated with the intensity of β-sheets, which seem to be the crucial component that affected the texture of SV-cooked tilapia more so than other parameters. The findings demonstrated the potential of SR-FTIR to decipher the biomolecular structure, particularly the secondary protein structure, of SV-cooked tilapia. This technique provided essential information for a better understanding of the changes in biomolecules related to the textural characteristics of this product.