Bioscience Method 2018, Vol.9, No.2, 12-21
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groundnut cake in the spice which is a very good source of protein.
The moisture content in this study ranged from 7.34±0.02% to 8.45±0.01%, which was higher than published
work by Fawole et al. (2007) on dried
S. galilaeus
(5.80), the relatively higher moisture content in the present
study could be due to the fact that the snack was processed to be fairly juicy, also the spice could also reduce the
rate at which water is removed during processing.
The lipid content of 13.5±0.05 in the unfortified snack was significantly highest (p>0.05) while snack fortified
with mixture of
Vernonia amygdalina
plus
Ocimum gratissimum
crude extract was lowest (12.71±0.23), (p<0.05)
different from the lipid level of other snacks. The lipid content of the fish snack products were higher than values
recorded in some literatures for
S. galilaeus
; (Fawole et al., 2013; Olopade et al
.
, 2013; Adewumi et al., 2014).
The high lipid content obtained in this study could be due to the relatively high lipid content of groundnut cake
contained in the composite spice. ‘
Kilishi
’ from beef and pork in other studies Prabhakaran and Mendiratta (2013);
Ogunsola and Omojola (2008) recorded a slightly higher lipid content than that of
S. galilaeus
snack in this study,
this could be due to the fish belonging to low fat group of fishes. However, fish lipid is largely composed of
unsaturated fatty acids, which supplies Omega-3 PUFAS for lowering blood cholesterol level and high blood
pressure (Oladipo and Bankole, 2013).
Ash content of the snack ranged from 3.57±0.01% to 4.34±0.04%, snacks fortified with crude extract of
Vernonia
amygdalina
and mixture of
Vernonia amygdalina
plus
Ocimum gratissimum
had the highest ash content
4.33±0.01% and 4.34±0.04% respectively. Values obtained in this study is lower than ash content reported by
Olopade et al., (2013) for dried
S. galilaeus
but similar to value obtained from fish cake made from shrimp
by-catch (Osibona et al., 2009).
The values obtained for fibre was higher than values (1.06±0.08; 0.12) reported by Fawole et al. (2007; 2013) and
0.71 reported by Idah et al. (2013) for 0.71 tilapia dried at 60°C for ten hours. The fibre content ranged from
1.55±0.01 to 2.37±0.01 with the unfortified snacks having significantly lower value (figure) than other snacks.
The higher fibre value of the treated snack might be due to the fibre content of the plant extracts. However, this is
not likely to result in adverse effect to consumers but rather might aid bowel evacuation and thus prevents
constipation.
Carbohydrate content in this study ranged from 13.64±0.03% to 23.70±0.04%, the seemingly higher carbohydrate
content may not be unconnected with the carbohydrate content of the spice, generally, as fish is low in
carbohydrate. The carbohydrate level is advantageous because it will supply energy and allow the use of its
protein for body maintenance and growth rather the protein being speared for energy through deamination which
could over work the liver with consequence adverse effect on the health of the consumers.
The mean energy value (409.22±5.83 Kcal/100 g) of the snacks in this study is lower than energy value of some
commercial snacks like ‘
Top’
biscuits (523 Kcal/100 g), ‘
Bigi
’ sausage roll (477 Kcal/100 g), ‘
Mimi chinchin
’ (510
Kcal/100 g), ‘
Oxford
’
biscuit
(420 Kcal/100 g) etc. Snacks treated with mixture of
Vernonia amygdalina
plus
Ocimum gratissimum
crude extract had the least energy value of 403.57 kcal/100 g and this can be recommended
for hypertensive patients, more especially that it is also low in Sodium.
Studies have shown that Iron (Fe) is one of the most abundant metals in the earth crust (Ibrahim and Tayel, 2005).
Iron is important in the formation of heamoglobin and its deficiency leads to anaemia (Sodamade, 2013). The high
value of Fe observed in this study compared to other metals might not be unconnected with its availability and
consequent uptake by the fish as well as availability in the spice ingredients. However, the values obtained for Fe
in this study were significantly different between the treatments. The value ranged from 6.07±0.038 mg/100 g to
13.23±0.015 mg/100 g, the iron in the snack per stake is capable of supplying 20.6% of the daily recommended
intake of 15 mg (NRC, 1989). Consumption of the snack could thus prevent anaemia.
Calcium is a macro element which is needed in large quantity in the body; it is involved in enzymatic systems and
