Retention of health-related beneficial components during household preparation of selenium-enriched African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fillets

Industrial processing and heat treatment of fish muscle generally lead to losses of water-soluble components, some of which may have beneficial health effects. The aim of this work was to determine the retention of taurine, selenium and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids when preparing African catfish by three traditional household techniques: boiling in pouches, deep-frying and baking. Cooking did not significantly reduce the content of selenium, having retention between 91and 104%. Deep-frying resulted in a taurine loss of 40%, which was significantly higher than in baking where losses were 25% The fatty acid profiles were similar for baked and boiled fillets, but were significantly different from deep-fried fillets, due to absorption of vegetable frying oil. Baking was the best preparation technique with regard to retention of 20:5n-3 (eicosapentaenoic acid; EPA) and 22:6n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA), retaining above 80% for both fatty acids, whereas boiling and deep-frying were able to retain only approximately 54 and 65% of each, respectively.