Texture engineering in cell-based seafood: Insights from structural and compositional benchmarks

Replicating the diverse textures of conventional fish remains a key challenge for cellbased seafood. This challenge stems from the absence of detailed, species-specific baselines and limited understanding of the factors driving textural variation among fish. Previous research on fish texture has primarily focused on quality control, dietary influences, or freshness, rather than establishing quantitative baselines. Meanwhile, studies on cell-based seafood have largely emphasized consumer preferences or technological advancements such as fabrication techniques, biomaterials, cell growth and differentiation, with little attention to the fundamental insights needed for texture development. To address this research gap, this study establishes species-specific characterization of structural, chemical, and textural properties of four commercially significant fish species including salmon, tilapia, tuna, and grouper. Additionally, it is the first to systematically evaluate the interactive effects and relative importance of muscle fiber diameter, hydroxyproline, and lipid content on fish texture using mixed modeling. Results show that hydroxyproline content is positively correlated with muscle hardness, gumminess, and chewiness, while smaller muscle fibers are associated with increased hardness, gumminess, chewiness, and adhesiveness. Higher fat content reduces gumminess and chewiness, resulting in a softer texture. In contrast, springiness, cohesiveness, and resilience appear to be more influenced by postmortem biochemical processes than by muscle composition. These findings provide a valuable baseline for guiding and optimizing texture development in cellbased seafood and identifying priorities for future research.