Mediterranean jellyfish as novel food: effects of thermal processing on antioxidant, phenolic, and protein contents

Antonella Leone,Stefano Piraino,Giacomo Milisenda,Raffaella Marina Lecci

doi:10.1007/s00217-019-03248-6

Abstract

Fishery, market and consumption of edible jellyfish are currently limited in western countries by the lack of market demand for jellyfish products and the absence of processing technologies adequate to the western market safety standards. The development of technology-driven processing protocols may be key to comply with rigorous food safety rules, overcome the lack of tradition and revert the neophobic perception of jellyfish as food. We show thermal treatment (100 °C, 10 min) can be used as a first stabilization step on three common Mediterranean jellyfish, the scyphomedusae Aurelia coerulea, Cotylorhiza tuberculata, Rhizostoma pulmo, differently affecting protein and phenolic contents of their main body parts. The antioxidant activity was assessed in thermally treated and untreated samples, as related to the functional and health value of the food. Heat treatment had mild effect on protein and phenolic contents and on antioxidant activity. The jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo, showed the better performance after thermal treatment.

Highlights

A growing number of reports focuses on world jellyfish fishery and on the perspective for a wide use of jellyfish as food [1]
To evaluate the effect of a thermal-based stabilization step for the potential exploitation of three Mediterranean jellyfish species as human food resource, jellyfish were processed as fresh material and subjected to HT100 (100 °C for 10 min) in PBS pH 7.4
We reported for the first time the effect of a thermal treatment on jellyfish biomass as possible first processing step, targeting to the use of jellyfish either as food or food ingredient

Summary

Introduction

A growing number of reports focuses on world jellyfish fishery and on the perspective for a wide use of jellyfish as food ( jellyfish is referred as the pelagic phase of marine cnidarians belonging to the class Scyphozoa) [1]. [2] and across the whole South East Asia [3, 4], based on the exploitation of several jellyfish species belonging to the order Rhizostomae characterized by the considerable stiffness and consistency of their extracellular proteinaceous mesoglea. This makes species such as Rhopilema esculentum, Catostylus mosaicus, Nemopilema nomurai, Stomolophus spp. appreciated as valuable and healthy food following a long-standing tradition. New opportunities for expanding jellyfish food uses in western countries will rely on the development of new processing technologies and of market demand, which in turn will depend on increased knowledge of jellyfish as food raw material and from its public perception, respectively

Methods

Results

Conclusion