PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF SALTED FERMENTED FISH (FESEEKH) CONSUMED IN EGYPT

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Food Sci. Dept., Fac. Agric., Zagazig Univ., Egypt

2 Fish Proc. and Quality Control Dept., Cent. Lab. Aquac. Res. (CLAR), Abbassa, Sharkia, Egypt

Abstract

The salted fermented fish (Mugil cephlus) Feseekh is not only popular as an appetizer; but also it's popular in some festivities in Egypt as a main dish. Biogenic amines (BA) are known as toxic in food. This study was conducted to investigate biogenic amines (BAs), physicochemical properties, and some microorganisms in salted fermented fish (Feseekh). Fifteen samples of Feseekh samples were obtained from different Egyptian local markets in four governorates (Sharkia, Ismailia, Beheira, and Dakahlia). The total biogenic amine content in Feseekh varied between 104.6 and 166.8 mg/kg. Six BAs Histamine (HIS), Tyramine (TYR), Putrescine (PUT), Cadaverine (CAD), Spermine (SPE), and Spermidine (SPD) were found in all fish samples under investigation. Histamine was quantitatively the most common biogenic amine in all samples, the histamine content ranged from 51.80 to 93.3 mg/kg, which was above the 50 mg/kg limits set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Fermented fish (Feseekh) contains 14 amino acids. The essential amino acids accounted for 30.7-36.9% of the total concentration of amino acids. Fish flesh of mullet had the highest fatty acids that are saturated fatty was less than monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The total volatile basic-nitrogen (TVBN) content was ranged from 23.00 to 48.00 mgN/100g, Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) content was from 1.36 to 2.94 mg malonaldehyde/kg sample and Trimethylamine (TMA) was from 3.20 to 23.10 mgN/100g. Meanwhile, The total bacteria count(TBC) was from (6.48 to 7.27 log CFU/g) was significantly higher than that of total mesophilic bacteria count (TMC) ranged from 6.04 to 7 log CFU/g. It could be inferred that the safety of Feseekh should be improved by  hygienic manufacturing process.

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