Determination of phenolic antioxidants in tuna fillets canned in hydrosols with HPLC‐DAD

Summary Canned tuna was fortified with a mixture of brine and hydrosols of aromatic plants (i.e. oregano, laurel, sage and lemon balm). An HPLC‐DAD method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of thirteen antioxidants in tuna fillets, including phenolic acids (gallic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid and rosmarinic acid), flavonoids (catechin, epicatechin, vanillin, myricetin, rutin, quercetin, luteolin and apigenin) and one hydroxybenzaldehyde (syringaldehyde). The analytes showed satisfying recovery efficiency (82.1–92.1%), and the method presented excellent linearity (r2 > 0.99). The precision limit was ≤5.6% RSDr for intra‐day and ≤7.2% RSDR for inter‐day experiments. The determined analytes ranged between 8.86 mg (quercetin) and 512 mg (rosmarinic acid) per 100g tuna flesh (n = 10), verifying that the hydrosols fortified the tuna fillets. Valorization of canned tuna fillets fortified with a mixture of brine and hydrosols of aromatic plants with the development of an HPLC‐DAD method for the determination of phenolic antioxidants.