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 American Journal of  
Food Science and Technology (AJFST)

Optimization of  Vacuum Marination Process, Maximizing 
the Flavor Infusion of  Sole Fish

Muhammad Umar1*, Qasim Ali1, Muhammad Amir1,  Ram Prasad Bebartta2

Volume 2 Issue 1, Year 2023
ISSN: 2834-0086 (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54536/ajfst.v2i1.1229
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Article Information ABSTRACT

Received: January 21, 2023

Accepted: February 08, 2023

Published: February 11, 2023

The major problem facing the fish processing industry is reducing the marination process 
time and increasing the uptake of  marinade. Previously, a marination bath has been utilized 
for this purpose with different combinations of  acid and salt, which causes physiochemical 
changes in fish texture. The vacuum marination method seems to be a good way to solve 
this problem. In this study, the effect of  the vacuum marination process was studied on the 
marination of  sole fish. Two varieties of  fish (fresh and frozen) and three levels of  time 
(10, 20 and 30 minutes) were studied for their effect on marinade uptake. The marinade 
was used in the ratio of  1.2:10 spices to meat, respectively. Fresh samples were weighted, 
vacuum packed, and stored at 4–7 0C, whereas frozen samples were stored at -20 0C for 24 
hours prior to marination and thawed at room temperature. After marination, percentage 
uptake, retention, and cooking loss of  the marinade were calculated. It was concluded from 
the yield of  marinated products that about 80% of  marination takes place in the first 10 
minutes of  the process. After 10–20 minutes, there was no significant difference (p>0.05), 
and only 1–2% of  the marinade was consumed. The frozen samples show significantly (p≤ 
0.05) higher yields and marinade uptake. After marination, the samples were stored at 0–4 
0C and fried in vegetable oil until the center reached 70 0C. Cooking loss for this process 
was non-significant for both varieties of  fish as it depends on the water-holding capacity of  
the meat, which remains the same for both cases. The use of  vacuum marination reduced 
the marination time significantly from 4-6 hours to 10 minutes, and marinade uptake was 
improved. This process can be used as an alternative to traditional marination techniques.

Keywords

Vacuum-Marinator, Fish, 
Frozen, Cooking Loss, 
Marinade Uptake 

1 Department of  Food Engineering University of  Agriculture, Faisalabad
2 Department of  Food, Agriculture and Bioresources, Asian Institute of  Technology, Pathum  Thani, Thailand
* Corresponding author’s e-mail: foodengineer30@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION
Most of  the people in Pakistan like to eat fish in its 
fresh and firm form after frying, grilling, salting and 
marination. The methods like salting, smoking, and 
fermenting are not much used for fish products in 
Pakistan. A large quantity of  fish is usually consumed 
in winter season all over Pakistan. The products of  fish 
marinades are obtained from different kind of  whole fish, 
through different process like frozen products, salted 
products and fresh fish. The meat for these products is 
prepared through different acid and salt concentration to 
develop a better taste in the products (Szymczak et al., 
2012). At industrial level, it is important to reduce the 
marinating time to obtain the same final characteristics 
of  pH, aw, and sensorial attributes. This can be done 
by increasing either the salt and acid contents of  the 
marinating solution or the marinating solution fish ratio, 
or by agitation during the marinating process (Hewage 
et al., 2022). Thawing after freezing changes both the 
substance and the moisture of  meat tissue. Moisture 
content as a quality trademark in meat can be assessed 
in a few different ways, including trickle misfortune, 
defrost misfortune, cooking loss, water restricting limit 
and aggregate dampness content. In any case, since the 
techniques used to decide dampness misfortune and 
changes in meat are not set by a global standard, usually 
hard to straightforwardly look at and reach inferences 
from considers in the writing that have utilized diverse 
strategies for such purposes (Sampels, 2015). Marination 

plays a vital role in meat processing at different level of  
processing as marination helps in decreasing microbial and 
enzymes load. Marination also provides a value addition 
in fish (Jia et al., 2022.). Marinated fish fillets are preserved 
by the concurrent action of  natural acids, for example, 
acetic acidic and salt. The joined additive activity keeps 
the development of  pathogenic microscopic organisms 
and most deterioration microorganisms. The aims of  this 
research were to determine the effect of  subfreezing and 
thawing conditions on the marination uptake and the salt 
and acid, immersion time, and sensorial characteristics 
during the marinating process of  sole fish. Fresh and 
frozen samples were investigated for uptake time of  
marinade within same conditions.

MATERIAL AND METHODS  
Sample and Marinade Preparation
Sole fish used with maximum acceptance was procured 
from local market of  Faisalabad after sensory evaluation 
by the team of  experts. After washing and cutting the 
whole fish, its skin was removed for better marination. 
Removed skin helps in up taking maximum marinade, 
reduce cooking time, good color, and sensory 
characteristics. After size reduction, the fish pieces were 
packed in polythene bags for both frozen and fresh 
samples. Fresh samples were weighted and vacuumed 
packed until the marination starts and kept at 4-7 0C. 
Samples were weighted before freezing and each sample 
was separately frozen (-20 0C) in vacuumed packaging 

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Am. J. Food. Sci. Technol. 2(1) 1-4, 2023

(Leygonie et al., 2012). All samples of  fish both fresh and 
frozen were independently labeled before marination to 
so that their identification remains same throughout the 
process of  marination. Primary ingredients in marinade 
were salt, chili, phosphate, and water. The concentration 
of  each ingredient in the marinade formulation can vary 
according to the product desired. The major concern of  
this study was to investigate the salt uptake that enriches 
the taste of  product and sodium tri poly phosphate 
which increases the water holding capacity, marinade 
uptake and retention of  marinade. The marinade used in 
this experiment was 1.2:10 water and meat respectively 
(Nakazawa & Okazaki et al., 2020). 

Vacuum Marination of  samples
The reverse process of  freezing is called thawing. The 
process used in this experiment was still air thawing at 
ambient conditions. The samples were placed on the 
mesh so that the water released from the meat did not 
interact with the fish. Marinating was performed for 
period of  10, 20, 30 minutes interval for both fresh and 
frozen sample at same ambient condition. The process 
of  marination was performed each time at 8 rpm and 5 in 
Hg. After each sample treatment, sample were weighted 
separately as tagged and the final weight of  sample was 
recorded. 

Analysis and Calculations
Fresh and frozen samples were weighted after marination 
to find the percentage uptake of  each sample
% Uptake = (final weight(Y) – initial weight(X)/ initial 
weight X) ×100
The samples were stored after marination at 4 0C for 24 
hours to calculate the marinade retention
Marinade retention (%) = (Weight after marination-
Weight after 24 hours/Weight after marination) ×100
After 24 hours the marinated fish was cooked until the 
center of  the sample reached to 75 0C 
Cooking Loss (%) = ((Wt. precook    – Wt. post cook)/ 
Wt. precook)) ×100
To find the overall efficiency of  the process was calculated 
as final yield 
Yield (%) = (Wt. post cook /Wt. pre marination) ×100

RESULTS 
Effect of  Fish Variety and Marination Time on the 
Marinade Uptake (%)
Two varieties of  fish (V, fresh and frozen) and three 
levels of  time (T, 10, 20 and 30 minutes) were studied for 
their effect on marinade uptake. The results obtained by 
the data showed that the effect of  T, V and interaction 
V*T was highly significant. The effect of  T on marinade 
uptake was significant showing that in first 10 minutes 

Table 1: Effect of  Variety and Marination Time on the Percentage Marinade Uptake
Marinade Uptake
Source DF SS Mean Square        F Value      Pr > F
V 1 17.7488 17.748        112.37  0.0001**
T 2 1.723 0.867         5.45    0.0207*
V*T 2 37.369 18.687        118.29   0.0001**
Error 14 11.2619 0.8044
Corrected Total 17 51.8992

Table 2: Comparison of  Means of  Marinade Uptake (%) Under the Effect of  Fish Variety and Time 
Marinade Uptake 
VARITY T (Mean)      

1 2 3
1 83.300±1.538       90.367±1.057 84.900±0.700
2 92.567±1.257 86.123±0.646 90.150±0.489

marinade uptake is maximum later, it is in very small 
amount (< 5%MU). 

Effect of  Fish Variety and Marination Time on 

Marinade Retention
Two varieties of  fish (V, fresh and frozen) and three 
levels of  time (T, 10, 20 and 30 minutes) were studied for 
their effect on marinade retention. The results obtained 

Table 3: Effect of  V and T on Marinade Retention (%)
Marinade Retention
Source DF SS Mean Square        F Value      Pr > F
V 1 52.776 52.779        65.81             0.0001**
T 2 1.565 0.787         0.98     0.4050NS
V*T 2 144.388 72.197            90.04 0.0001**

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Am. J. Food. Sci. Technol. 2(1) 1-4, 2023

Error 14 12.00        0.8571
Corrected Total 17 12.00              

Table 4: Comparison of  Means (%) of  Marinade Retention Under the Effect of  Interaction V And T 
Marinade Retention
VARITY T      

1 2 3
1 1.487±0.078               5.370±0.607 2.716±0.088
2 6.013±0.676 3.326±0.138  6.185±0.318

by the data showed that the effects of  V and interaction 
V*T were highly significant. The effect of  T on marinade 
retention was non-significant. 

Effect of  Variety and Time on The Percentage Yield 
of  Process 

Two varieties of  fish (V, fresh and frozen) and three 
levels of  time (T, 10, 20 and 30 minutes) were studied 
for their effect on marinade yield. The results obtained 
by the data showed that the effect of  V and T was non-
significant. The effect of  V*T on marinade yield was 
highly significant. 

Table 5: Effect of  Fish Variety and Time on the Overall Yield (%) of  the Process
Yield
Source DF SS Mean Square F Value Pr > F
V 1 0.379 0.3189 0.67 0.427NS
T 2 1.563 0.787 1.66 0.239 NS
V*T 2 22.275 11.117 23.60 0.0001**
Error 14 18.6211           1.3300
Corrected Total 17 20.16

Table 6: Comparison of  Mean Percentage Yield Under the Interactions of  V And T
Yield
VARITY T      

1 2 3
1 95.167±0.919    93.200±0.487 94.867±0.377
2 93.267±0.997 96.077±0.389 93.033±0.836

Effect of  Fish Variety and Marination Time on the 
Cooking Loss
The results obtained by the data showed that the effects of  

V and interaction V*T were highly significant. The effect 
of  T on cooking loss was also highly significant showing 
that in first 10 minutes marinade uptake is maximum.

Table 7: Effect of  Fish Variety and Time on the Cooking Loss (%)
Cooking Loss
Source DF SS Mean Square F Value Pr > F
V 1 0.749 0.749 18.28 0.001**
T 2 1.658 0.829 20.40  0.0001**
V*T 2 15.428 7.729 190.43 0.0001**
Error 14 4.4657 0.3189
Corrected Total 17 7.099

Table 8: Comparison of  Mean Percentage of  Cooking Loss Under the Effect of  Variety and Time 
Cooking Loss
VARITY T      

1 2 3
1 10.467±0.157       11.567±0.152 9.277±0.173
2 11.657±0.123 9.417±0.325 11.453±0.259

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Am. J. Food. Sci. Technol. 2(1) 1-4, 2023

DISCUSSION
It was concluded that about 80% of  marination take 
place in first 10 minutes of  marination at the condition 
that were provided in this experiment. Time plays an 
important role in explain the uptake of  marinade. Time 
from 10-20 minutes plays very minute role in up taking 
time of  marinade. As this experiment were conducted to 
minimize the process optimization of  meat marination 
while considering next ten minutes are not beneficial for 
1-2 % of  marination process. Rather than increasing time 
experiment should be conducted on marination ratio 
or vacuum control as this experiment were taken out 
at 5 inches of  Hg (Moadab et al., 2018). Increasing rpm 
during vacuum marination above 8 results in damaging 
the meat fillets as during these experiments 2 fillets 
were broken. The stirrer design was also very important 
meat can stick and marination of  these samples were 
seems stopped about one and other which result in 
reduced uptake. Agitation can increase the temperature 
of  process temperature that can directly affect the 
marinade retention of  meat. It was concluded increasing 
temperature above certain range resulted in decrease 
of  marinade retention and meat started releasing the 
marinade. After marination of  meat samples meat store 
at 0-4 0C retained the maximum marinade. Cooking loss 
were seeming not different from each other as cooking 
loss depend upon the water holding capacity of  the meat 
in both cases the thawing losses were same. The above 
result concluded that using vacuum marination reduced 
the time marination but after freezing and thawing the 
process time decreased significantly (Jia et al., 2022b). 
The parameter of  vacuum marinade ratio rpm and time 
plays a significant role. According to this study marinade 
uptake were improved in the marinating solution, the 
water contents were decreased after thawing and the 
average thawing loss during all these experiments were 
remain 2.22% and while comparing with the fresh sample 
these thawing loss help to gain more marinade uptake 
during vacuumed marination process and the texture and 
water content of  the sole fillet were reliant on the levels 
of  salt and acid that the fish tissue takes.

CONCLUSION
The results reduced the time of  marination to only 10 
minutes as compared to traditional 3 hour with increased 
tenderness better and enriched taste. The core purpose 
of  marination is to absorb the flavors of  the marinade for 
the food like meat, to tenderize it. Polyphosphates changes 
the microstructure of  the meat by solubilizing salt soluble 
proteins. In addition, polyphosphates improve tenderness 
of  chicken breast, reduce cooking and frying losses. 

The frozen samples showed significant improvement in 
marinade uptake and its retention due to broken structure 
of  cell during freezing and thawing which helped the 
meat to gain more marinade. The vacuum marination 
process seems to be a future promising approach which 
can reduce the time of  marination as well as provide 
the good quality meat due to no use of  chemicals and 
additives to enhance the uptake and retention. 

REFERENCES
Jia, H., Roy, K., Pan, J., & Mraz, J. (2022). Icy affairs: 

Understanding recent advancements in the freezing 
and frozen storage of  fish. In Comprehensive Reviews in 
Food Science and Food Safety, 21(2), 1383–1408. https://
doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12883

Jia, H., Roy, K., Pan, J., & Mraz, J. (2022). Icy affairs: 
Understanding recent advancements in the freezing 
and frozen storage of  fish. Comprehensive Reviews in 
Food Science and Food Safety, 21(2), 1383–1408. https://
doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12883

Koggala Hewage, A. P. K., Mutucumarana, R. K., & 
Andrew, M. S. (2022). Effect of  Marination Method, 
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Leygonie, C., Britz, T. J., & Hoffman, L. C. (2012). 
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Moadab N.H, Hamdami N, Isfahan M.D, & Farahnaky 
A. (2018). Effects of  radiofrequency-assisted freezing 
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Nakazawa, N., & Okazaki, E. (2020). Recent research 
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Sampels, S. (2015). The Effects of  Storage and Preservation 
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Szymczak, M., Kolakowski, E., & Felisiak, K. (2012). 
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