Evaluation of the Preservation and Digestion of Seal Meat Processed with Heating and Antioxidant Seal Meat Hydrolysates

Abstract

Seal meat is of high nutritive value but is not highly exploited for human food due to ethical issues, undesirable flavors, and loss of nutrients during the processing/cooking step. In this work, commercially available processed seal meat was treated with its hydrolysates as preservatives with the aim of improving nutrient bioavailability. The contents of the nutrients were analyzed after digestion using a simulated dynamic digestion model, and the effects of different processing conditions, i.e., low-temperature processing and storage (25 °C) and high-temperature cooking (100 °C), of seal meat were investigated. Hydrolysates with antioxidant activity decreased the amounts of the less desirable Fe³⁺ ions in the seal meat digests. After treatment with hydrolysates at room temperature, a much higher total Fe content of 781.99 mg/kg was observed compared to other treatment conditions. The release of amino acids increased with temperature and was 520.54 mg/g for the hydrolysate-treated sample versus 413.12 mg/g for the control seal meat sample treated in buffer. Overall, this study provides useful data on the potential use of seal meat as a food product with high nutritive value and seal meat hydrolysates with antioxidant activity as preservatives to control oxidation in food.

Keywords: bioprocessing; digestion; harp seal; hydrolysates; seal meat.

Figure 1

(a) DPPH free radical scavenging activity and (b) hydroxyl radical scavenging activity of the hydrolysates and buffer solutions collected after treatments at 25 °C and 100 °C.

Figure 2

Total amino acid contents and their profiles (mg/g) of the intestinal digests of seal meat treated with hydrolysates or buffer at 25 °C and 100 °C, respectively.

Figure 3

Contents of some beneficial minerals (Fe, Mg, and Zn) (mg/kg) in the intestinal digests of seal meat treated with hydrolysates (left) and buffer (right) at 25 °C and 100 °C, respectively.

Figure 4

Calculated amounts of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions (mg/g) in the gastric and intestinal digests of seal meat treated with hydrolysates at 25 °C (a) and 100 °C (b) and their control samples treated with buffer at 25 °C (c) and 100 °C (d).

Figure 5

Illustration of the workflow for the treatment of seal meat with seal meat hydrolysates and buffer at 25 °C and 100 °C.