DIFFERENCES IN HYBRID AND CHANNEL CATFISH FILLET TEXTURE

Hybrid (Channel ♀ x Blue ♂) catfish have recently surpassed the channel catfish as the major species being produced by US catfish processors.  With this change, many questions arise on how texture quality and consistency of the catfish products may be affected, in both the cooked fillet by the consumer and the raw fillet by the processors.  Differences in texture can result in rejection by the consumer and may create processing difficulties, with variable filleting requirements, to the processor.  The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of the catfish species on fillet texture, for either raw or cooked fillets, in addition to effects from catfish gender or processing methods.

Fresh-frozen and individually quick frozen (IQF) catfish fillets were obtained from experimental ponds and processors.  Instrumental texture analysis was performed using the texture profile analysis (TPA) protocol on a rectangular central section of the fillet.  Fillets were cooked by baking, to an internal temperature of 165^oF, cooled to 85^oF, and the texture was measured by TPA at eight positions to give attributes, Firmness, Cohesiveness, Springiness, Chewiness, Resilience, and Adhesiveness, plus several additional attributes.  In addition, cooked samples were analyzed by a trained descriptive sensory texture panel that determined the attributes, firmness, flakiness, moisture release, and moisture retention.

TPA methods determined that cooked channel catfish fillets were firmer and chewier than hybrid catfish, with a larger difference seen in the IQF fillets, as seen in Figure 1.