New Insights into Phospholipid Profile Alteration of Bigeye Tuna (Thunnus obesus) during Daily Cooking Processes Using Rapid Evaporative Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Bigeye tuna (BET, Thunnus obesus) is one of the most nutritious and luxurious cosmopolitan fish.The cooked BET products are capturing the interests of consumers byenhancing flavor and ensuring microbiological safety; however, thelipidomic fingerprints during daily cooking processes have not beeninvestigated. In this work, lipid phenotypic data variation in BETduring air-frying, roasting, and boiling was studied comprehensivelyusing iKnife rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS).The outstanding lipid ions mainly including fatty acids (FAs) andphospholipids (PLs) were identified structurally. It was demonstratedthat the rates of heat transfer and lipid oxidation in air-fried BETwere slower than those in roasted and boiled BET by elucidating thelipid oxidation and PL hydrolysis mechanism. Furthermore, multivariateREIMS data analysis (e.g., discriminant analysis, support vector machine,neutral network, and machine learning models) was used to characterizethe lipid profile change in different cooked BET samples, among whichFA(C22:6), PL18:3/22:6, PL18:1/22:6, and others were the salient contributing features for determiningthe cooked BET samples. These results may provide a potential strategyfor a healthy diet by controlling and improving functional food qualityin daily cooking.

Automated summary

In this study, the variation in lipid phenotypic data in bigeye tuna during air-frying, roasting, and boiling was comprehensively investigated using iKnife rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS). It was demonstrated that the rates of heat transfer and lipid oxidation in air-fried bigeye tuna were slower than those in roasted and boiled bigeye tuna. Multivariate REIMS data analysis was used to characterize the lipid profile change in different cooked bigeye tuna samples, with specific fatty acids and phospholipids identified as salient contributing features. These results provide a potential strategy for a healthy diet by controlling and improving functional food quality in daily cooking.