International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.11, 96-101
96
Research Report Open Access
Nutritional, Microbial and Sensory Quality of Solar Tent Dried (Samva Nyengo)
and Open Sun Dried
Copadichromis virginalis
-Utaka
(Pisces; Cichlidae)
James Banda
1
, Mangani Katundu
2
, Levison Chiwaula
2
, Geoffrey Kanyerere
1
, Maxon Ngochera
1
, Kingsley Kamtambe
1
1 Research Officer, Fisheries Research Unit, P.O. Box 27, Monkey Bay, Malawi
2 Chancellor College, P.O Box 280 Zomba, University of Malawi, Malawi
Corresponding email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No. 11 doi
Received: 24 Mar., 2017
Accepted: 19 Apr., 2017
Published: 01 May, 2017
Copyright © 2017
Banda et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Banda J., Katundu M., Chiwaula L., Kanyerere G., Ngochera M., and Kamtambe K., 2017, Nutritional, microbial and sensory quality of solar tent dried (Samva
Nyengo) and open sun dried
Copadichromis virginalis
-Utaka (Pisces; Cichlidae), International Journal of Marine Science, 7(11): 96-101 (doi:
Abstract
A comparative analysis of solar tent drying (Samva Nyengo) and open sun drying were evaluated for their effectiveness
on quality of
Copadichromis virginalis
on nutritional content, microbial load and sensory quality. Solar tent dried and open sun dried
Copadichromis virginalis
contained 62.89±0.05% and 62.73±0.096% of crude protein, 23.24±0.66% and 23.41±0.59% of fat,
7.22±0.021% and 16.31±0.36% of moisture 14.48±1.08% and 21.97±0.36% of ash respectively. Moisture and ash were significant
difference (p = 0.001), crude protein and crude fat showed a non-significant difference (p = 0.05). Open sun dried had significantly
higher bacteria load (4.1×10
5
CFU/g) (0.001) than solar tent dried fish (2.2×10
2
CFU/g). Isolated bacteria from solar tent dried and
open sun dried fish were 1.2×10
1
and 5.0 ×10
3
for Total coliform, 0 and 1.0 ×10
4
for
Escherishia coli
, 0 and 6.1 ×10
3
for
Salmonella
,
0 and 3.8 ×10
3
for
Shigella
, 5.9×10
2
and 5.1×10
4
for
Psuedomonas
. Panellist had high preference for solar tent dried than open sun
dried fish confirmed by scores for overall acceptability which were high at 3.8 and 2.2 respectively. The results reveal a possible
application of solar tent drying as a SMART proven and emerging technology for fish processing in Malawi. It has proved that use of
solar tent drying would support fish processors to produce quality dried fish with good nutritive value, reduced microbial
contamination, and consumer acceptability that will be central to food security of the country.
Keywords
Copadichromis virginalis
; Quality; Open sun drying; Solar tent drying; Lake Malawi
Introduction
Fish contribute substantially in human diets as good sources of animal protein that also provide other important
elements necessary for maintenance of healthy bodies (Ravichandran et al., 2012).
However, it is an extremely
perishable commodity due to high water activity, neutral pH and autolytic enzymes and quality losses occur very
rapidly after catch (Musa et al., 2010; Dewi et al., 2011). This results to high post harvest losses estimated at 40%
(FAO, 2010
)
. These losses are manifested in physical damage, quality deterioration and finally market value. This
results in fishermen losing considerable portion of their profit, as well as, the general public losing considerable
nutritious food where fish provides 70% of animal protein, hence the need for proper processing techniques to
avoid spoilage and quality losses.
In Malawi fish processing is achieved through para boiling, deep frying, smoking and open sun drying which is
one of the vital approaches that enhances fish preservation of small fish species such as
Copadichromis virginalis
(Utaka) endemic to Lake Malawi. However, current processing methods have a lot of limitations. Open sun drying
is very challenging during the rainy season due to high relative humidity and cloud cover as well as contamination
by dust and insect infestation that carry faecal material and result to poor quality of the processed fish due to high
microbial load (Hansen, 2008; Akinola et al., 2016) On the other hand, smoking is dominated by use of traditional
open fire using firewood that renders the product with high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are
smoke deposits and unhygienic handling by the processors. Parboiled fish products are easily re-contaminated
with bacteria and gets quickly spoiled. Deep frying degrades nutrients with high temperature through hydrolysis
and oxidation of fatty acids (Rossel, 2011).
