Abstract
Generally, fish are unhygienically sun dried, which causes the considerable reduction of quality and safety of the product. The effects of drying methods on physico-chemical, microbiological, and sensory properties of Megalaspis cordyla were investigated. Fish were dried using traditional (without pre-treatment), improved (treated with 5% salt solution), improved-TC (treated with 5% salt solution and rubbed with turmeric and chili powder) and solar tunnel (treated with 5% salt solution) drying methods. Sensory evaluation revealed that solar-dried products showed comparatively better quality than the products produced by other drying methods. Rehydration ability of solar dried products was comparatively higher than other dried products. Moisture content of dried M. cordyla was ranged from 16.28% to 21.30%. However, no significant (p > 0.05) variation was found in protein, lipid and ash content on dry matter basis. Significantly (p < 0.05) the lowest peroxide value, acid value and carbonyl value were observed in solar dried products. In contrast, comparatively higher amount of PUFAs were found in solar dried products followed by improved, improved-TC and traditionally produced dried fish. The aerobic plate count of dried M. cordyla varied between 2.04 log CFU/g and 5.71 log CFU/g. Results of this study suggested that the dried fish produced by solar tunnel drying method showed comparatively better quality than other drying methods for the consumer’s safety.
Highlights
Sun drying is a traditional and important processing method to preserve seafood since ancient times
Seafood is exposed to light, heat, and air, which can affect the nutritional quality of the product
Lipids of marine fish are rich in n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (Aidos et al, 2002; Passi et al, 2002) are very prone to oxidation that is favored by sun drying
Summary
Sun drying is a traditional and important processing method to preserve seafood since ancient times. Sensory and nutritional quality of those dried products are not satisfactory for human consumption due to unhygienic processing and handling of fish, inappropriate drying methods and time, insects’ infestation, microbial and fungal growth, indiscriminate use of various types of pesticides, improper storage and lipid oxidation of dried fish (Reza et al, 2005; Chaijan et al, 2006; Hasan et al, 2016b; Rasul et al, 2020). A suitable drying method of fish is crucial to improve nutritional value by retarding the microbial growth and lipid oxidation. Megalaspis cordyla (locally known as Kauwa fish) is belongs to the family of Carangidae, mostly found in coastal and marine waters in Bangladesh The taste of this fish is very poor that is why consumers do not prefer to eat it the price of this fish is comparatively cheaper than other marine fishes. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of drying techniques on the physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics of M. cordyla
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