Author(s): Neeta Pradhan, Madhav Kumar Shrestha, Sunila Rai, Dilip Kumar Jha, and Shyam Kumar Sah

Abstract: Dried chhari fish is a popular fish product with good market potential. A study was carried out to access quality of cured and uncured dried chhari fish in commercially fish processing centers in wholesale and retail markets. A total of 36 samples of cured and uncured dried fish were collected from the fish processing centers and their respective wholesale and retail markets. Samples were analyzed for proximate, chemical and microbial analysis. Wide differences in crude protein (64.3±0.7 to 73.4±0.7%) and crude fat (6.7±0.2 to 12.4±0.1%) among samples of cured dried fish were obtained. pH values of both cured and uncured samples were within the acceptable range (6.0 to 7.0). The peroxide values of both cured and uncured samples were within the permissible level (10 to 20 meq O₂/kg of oil). The total plate count ranged from 150.0x10³Â±83.0x10³ to 12000.0x10³Â±13000.0x10³ cfu/g in cured dried fish and from 4200.0x10³Â±200.0x10³ to 2400000.0x10³Â±1300000.0x10³ in uncured dried fish. Mold content ranged from 0.7x10³Â±0.1x10³ to 3.5x10³Â±1.2x10³ in cured dried fish and from 14.0x10³Â±7.7x10³ to1300.0 x10³Â±1500.0 x10³ in uncured dried fish. Present analysis suggests that chhari sized mrigal fish dried by smoking at both cured and uncured processing sites and their respective market channels were less hygienic at current state of drying. However, fish preservation through curing method was comparatively better than uncured in terms of processing, preservation and storage. The study suggests that the need for improvement in fish preservation technology including processing technology and adoption of soar dryer and hybrid solar dryer.

Pages: 463-471  |  879 Views  141 Downloads

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