An SA402B taste sensing system (electronic tongue) was used to evaluate the meat taste characteristics of three groups of Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis (H. Milne Edwards, 1853): those from the native culture area in the Yangcheng Lake, Yangcheng Lake-labeled crabs from the market, and those from aquaculture ponds. The electronic tongue data showed that umami was the most predominant taste in the steamed meat, followed by sweetness. The aftertaste of umami was clearly observed in all crab meat samples. Saltiness and bitterness varied widely depending on the geographic origin. There was only a little aftertaste of bitterness and no discernable sourness, astringency, or aftertaste of astringency. Principal component analysis (PCA) exhibited a clear grouping trend among the three crab groups. Linear discriminant analysis revealed that the crab groups can be separated from each other with 100% accuracy on the basis of the aforementioned measurable taste values. The taste sensing system can accurately profile the taste characteristics of crabs native to Yangcheng Lake, those marketed as Yangcheng Lake-labeled crabs, and those of pond-cultured crabs.

The authentication of high-quality fishery products originating from specific geographical regions is urgently needed worldwide. Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis), originating from Yangcheng Lake, are prime counterfeiting targets for the same reasons. Foreign crabs that are cultured briefly in the lake, known as “bathed” crabs, are illegally marketed as natives, negatively impacting the product quality. To establish a method for distinguishing “bathed” and genuine crabs, in this paper we conduct a comparative investigation by an Agilent 7500ce ICP-MS on multi-mineral element profiling of the third pereiopod from genuine and one month deliberately “bathing” cultured crabs. The profiles of 11 elements were significantly different between the genuine and foreign crabs before and after bathing. The discriminant analysis reached 100% accuracy to separate the genuine and “bathed” crabs into different groups. Bathing culture was unable to converge element profiles between the genuine and foreign crabs. The biogeochemical profiles can be effective for distinguishing “bathed” crabs.

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This is the first report on the use of a taste sensing system to quantitatively evaluate the taste attributes of two groups of native “June hairy crab” juveniles (commonly referred to as “Liu-Yue-Huang”) of the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir Sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853) from a net enclosure culture area in Yangcheng Lake (lake culture) and aquaculture ponds near the lake (pond culture). We showed that umami was the predominant basic taste of steamed June hairy crabs, followed by bitterness and astringency. The intensity value of saltiness was aberrant and could not be determined using this system. The average values of aftertaste-U reached 8.7 and 10.7 in the male June hairy crabs from the lake and pond cultures, respectively, which was significantly higher than their respective aftertaste-B and aftertaste-A values (p < 0.01). Female crabs did not have aftertaste-B, while their aftertaste-U was significantly higher than aftertaste-A (p < 0.01). Although principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis were not able to completely distinguish among crabs from different cultures, they could robustly distinguish between male and female crabs.

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