A REVIEW ON THE POTENTIAL SCOPE TOWARDS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL CONSERVATION OF THE FERMENTED FISH PRODUCTS OF INDIA

Abstract

Fermented food has been consumed as a delicacy across many regions along the globe. This review addresses the specific need of the metagenomics and transcriptomics approach in understanding the traditional fermented fish products of India, which uses the fish Puntius sp. as raw material. The fermented fish products play a very important role in the socioeconomic and livelihood specifically of the underdeveloped Northeastern states of India. There were reports on the presence of the healthy probiotic bacteria from the culture dependent microbial works. The isolated probiotic bacteria were reported to show antimicrobial spectrum against common pathogenic bacterial strains and has antioxidant properties. Till date, no work has been focussed on culture-independent techniques, establishment of safe starter culture and extension of shelf life of the fermented products of India. Such studies could potentially help to generate information towards a safety line of production for industrial development. This study also strongly raised the need for protecting the processes of traditional fermentation techniques that are employed by the respective place of origin. As the original ancestral techniques employed for the production of the individual fermented fish products has close resemblance, it is an urgent need to conserve these ethnic ancestral products, which will represent as a reference to demonstrate and witness the existence of rich culture of North-eastern India. Further, suggestions are being made on maintenance of production data bank, to support the verbal fact that these fermented fish product is an extremely important daily essential diet of the north-eastern India.