Evaluation of muscle cuts of pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) and sous vide product characterization and quality parameters

The aim of this study was to select the most suitable cut of raw pirarucu for developing a sous vide product based on their muscle yield, and the microbiological, nutritional, chemical/quality and physical characteristics. In addition, the cooking value and the percentage of nutrient retention were determined, and the sensorial, microbiological, nutritional, chemical/quality and physical parameters of the final product were analyzed on the 0th and 49th day of storage under refrigeration at 0 +/- 2 degrees C. The dorsal cut was selected as the most suitable for developing the sous vide product based on its high yield (41.52%), low microbiological load, physicochemical and color characteristics, and fatty acids profile. Overall, the sous vide product showed high retention of all nutrient (>= 60) specifically of protein, this result is in agreement with experimentally calculated cook values (43.11). On the 0th day, the sous vide product reached 85.32% of overall acceptance and was well approved with scores >= 7 considering the hedonic scale while on the 49th day, the attributes were scored with 5 in average. The Salmonella spp and sulfite-reducing Clostridia were absent, and a maximum counts of 3.5 log CFU/g for mesophilic and 2.67 log MPN/g coliforms were registered, and the chemical analyses registered 3.19 (mg N/100 g), 2.06 (mg MDAeq./kg) and 0.25 (mg BAs/kg), but these values did not exceed the recommended acceptable limits on the 49th day of storage. This study demonstrates that the dorsal cut, when processed by the sous vide process, allows obtaining a product with high quality and nutritional value that has a high overall acceptance by consumers.