This paper reports the effects of four popular cooking methods viz. grilling, boiling, frying, and microwaving on the proximate and nutritional compositions of freshwater mud eel (FWME) muscle. The moisture content of raw FWME muscle was 74.45%, which was similar in boiled products but lower in grilled, fried, and microwaved products (p ≤ .05). The protein content in raw and cooked FWME muscles varied between 14.49% and 21.28%. There were found 20 different fatty acids in FWME muscle of which palmitic acid was the most abundant one with an amount of 26.51%-29.70% in raw and cooked FWME muscles. FWME muscle contained a substantial amount of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, ranging from 7.54% to 13.7%. However, the thermal effects during cooking decreased the ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid contents. There were seven essential and eight nonessential amino acids available in FWME muscle; among the essential amino acids, lysine content was the highest. Raw and cooked FWME were very rich in calcium, between 794.52 mg/100 g and 883.24 mg/100 g muscle. Among the studied heavy metals, Pb content was the highest. However, all the heavy metal contents were within acceptable limits determined by health risk assessment, that is, target hazard quotient and target cancer risk.
Keywords: amino acids; cooking process; fatty acids; freshwater mud eel; health risk assessments; minerals and heavy metals.
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