Author(s)

Elena Sánchez-Zapata, Mahassine Amensour, Rosa Oliver, Evangélica Fuentes-Zaragoza, Casilda Navarro, Juana Fernández-López, Esther Sendra, Estrella Sayas, José Angel Pérez-Alvarez

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Dark muscle from yellowfin tuna is an important edible fish by-product. However, it has a low commercial value, and it is underutilized. The present study was conducted to establish the characteristic of this by-product. Myoglobin concen- tration in tuna dark muscle is high (9650.12 mg/kg). Total iron in tuna muscle was 32.11 mg/kg, higher than other animal foods like veal or pork, and heme iron concentration was 23.56 mg/kg (73.38% of the total iron), indicating a high bioavailability of heme iron in dark muscle from yellowfin tuna, which is a nutritional advantage. As for the techno- logical properties, yellowfin tuna dark muscle had a water holding capacity of 8.37 g water/g and oil holding capacity of 8.11 g oil/g. This indicates that tuna dark muscle has possible applications to elaborate products, such as emulsion- ated foods or cooked products, so its industrialization is possible.

Dark Muscle, Tuna Fish, Haemopigments, Myoglobin, Heme Iron, Physicochemical Properties

E. Sánchez-Zapata, M. Amensour, R. Oliver, E. Fuentes-Zaragoza, C. Navarro, J. Fernández-López, E. Sendra, E. Sayas and J. Pérez-Alvarez, "Quality Characteristics of Dark Muscle from Yellowfin Tuna Thunnus albacares to Its Potential Application in the Food Industry," Food and Nutrition Sciences, Vol. 2 No. 1, 2011, pp. 22-30. doi: 10.4236/fns.2011.21003.