Quality Assessment of Traditionally Dried Marine Fish of Bangladesh

A study was conducted to assess organoleptic, biochemical and microbiological quality aspects of traditionally dried marine fish products of one of the largest fish drying zones of Bangladesh viz., Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf. It was found that eight species viz., Stromateus chinensis, S. cinereus, Riksha sp., Johinus argentatus, Trichiurus haumela, Harpodon neherus, Lutianus johnii and Penaeus sp. were commonly used as raw materials to produce traditional dried fish. Organoleptic characteristics in respect of colour, odour, texture, insect infestation and presence of broken pieces in the products indicated poor to moderately acceptable condition while water reconstitution rate was found to be slower in majority of the traditional sun dried products. Results of the proximate composition such as moisture, crude protein, lipid and ash content of these products ranged from 18.56% to 24.20%, 33.56% to 58.22%, 2.74% to 15.44% and 15.87% to 32.22% respectively. Total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N) and peroxide value (PV) were 28.46 ± 0.5 to 42.88 ± 4.9 mg N/100g and 46.80 ± 1.9 to 82.70 ± 3.8 m.eq/kg oil respectively, both of which were higher than the recommended values for dried fish. Microbial load, on the other hand, ranged from 0.95 × 104 to 1.9 × 105 CFU/g indicating varying levels of viable bacteria in those products while no coliform bacteria were detected in these samples. These data provide valuable information on these highly relished dried fish for domestic consumers in order to choose them based on their quality aspects.