High pressure treatment on the tofu fatty acids and acylglycerols content

Abstract Three batches of tofu were purchased from the local market. The samples were packaged under vacuum, and half of them subjected to a pressure in a range of 100 to 350 MPa at ambient temperature (22 °C) for 15 min, the rest were considered as control. The soy fat was extracted with hexane and the characterisation of fatty acids composition as methyl esters (FAME) and their diacyl–triacylglycerols (DAG, TAG) were analysed by Gas chromatography (GC). The tofu fat is low in saturated fatty acids (SFA, ∼ 16%) and high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA, ∼ 64%). The DAG content was lower than 10% and the highest value obtained for TAG was for the CN54 (∼ 60%), followed for the CN52 (∼ 28%) and CN50 (∼ 4%). No significant changes on the profile fat pattern have been found after the high pressure treatment in the assayed conditions. The ratios of PUFA/SFA and n-6/n-3 are 4 and 7 respectively. Tofu can be subjected to HP of 350 MPa without significant changes in its fat pattern. Industrial relevance Tofu is becoming an increasingly important international product outside its traditional markets. The use of high pressure processing for preservation purposes is a potential to retain or increase the nutritional value of foods of high relevance. This paper concentrates on the impact of high pressure on polyunsaturated acid and di-triacylglycerols. Interestingly no significant changes due to high pressure treatment could be observed marking this an attractive processing option.