Determination of some nutrient minerals in the meats of three species of fishes brought from the Blue Nile and the White Nile, Sudan

Abstract

Various fish species are found in fish-markets that trigger the need to evaluate the quality of various fish meat products to answer the consumer needs. This study evaluated some mineral elements in the meats of Baiad (B), Tilapia (T) and Nile Perch (NP) fish species. These fish species were brought from the fish market of Wad Medani City (Blue Nile Fishes; BN), and from Kosti fish market (White Nile Fishes; WN). The preparation of fish meat-ashes and the determination of minerals (through Atomic Absorption), were run in the Food Analysis Laboratory, and the Central Laboratory - University of Gezira. The results showed high concentration of Cu element in WN samples was high in B-meat (0.434 mg/L) and in BN sample in T-meat (0.115 mg/L). Mn element in WN samples was high in B-meat (0.282 mg/L) and in BN sample in T-meat (0.292 mg/L). Fe (0.788 mg/L) and Zn (0.950 mg/L) elements were high in NP-meat of WN, while Fe (3.261 mg/L) and Zn (5.123 mg/L) were high in B-meat of BN. WN samples were highly contaminated with Pb which was about 24-folds more than the maximum tolerable limit (0.025 mg/L), while BN samples were still about third that standard. It was cleared that, BN fish samples were relatively rich in Fe and Zn, while WN samples were relatively rich in Cu and Mn elements.The contamination of fish meat of WN with Pb should be seriously studied, and the meat quality of all fish species should be determined.