Lipid Oxidation and Fatty Acid Composition in Salt-Dried Yellow Croaker(Pseudosciaena polyactis) During Processing Lipid Oxidation and Fatty Acid Composition in Salt-Dried Yellow Croaker(Pseudosciaena polyactis) During Processing

Lipid oxidation in salt-dried yellow croaker(Pseudosciaena polyactis) was evaluated during processing with commonly used analytical indices, such as the peroxide value(POV), the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances(TBARS) value, and oxidative-relative lipoxygenase(LOX) activity. Additionally, fatty acids were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Both POV and TBARS increased significantly(P < 0.05) at the rinsing stage. POV reached its peak value of 3.63 meq O_2 per kg sample at the drying stage, whereas TBARS constantly increased from 0.05 to 0.20 mg MDA per kg sample. Processing of salt-dried yellow croaker had an extremely significant(P < 0.01) effect on LOX activity. Twenty-six fatty acids were identified. Combined eicosapentaenoic acid(EPA; C20:5n3) and docosahexaenoic acid(DHA; C22:6n3) content varied between(19.20 ±0.37) mg g~(-1) and(23.45 ± 1.05) mg g~(-1). The polyunsaturated fatty acid/saturated fatty acid(PUFA/SFA) ratio in yellow croaker was 0.73–1.10, and the n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio was approximately 0.13–0.20. The contents of most fatty acids varied significantly(P <0.05) during the different processing stages, and these differences were caused by lipid oxidation. C18:0, C16:1n7, C19:0, and C22:6n3 showed clear changes in principle component one of a principle components analysis. These fatty acids are potential markers for evaluating lipid oxidation in fish muscle because there was a significant correlation between these markers and TBARS and LOX activity(P < 0.05) with Pearson's coefficients > 0.931