Effect of smoking Carp fish treated with salted solution on quality and shelf life

Abstract

The aim of this study was to study the chemical composition and microbial content of three groups of samples of fresh carp in the coastal zone, central region and local markets of Damascus city. The average humidity ranged between 76.2 and 73.6%, while the average of fat was between 4.8 and 5.2%, while the average protein values between 17.2 and 18.8%. The results of the microbiological examination showed that the average of total microbial count ranged between 2.7 × 10⁵ and 4.2 × 106 cells / g. The total fungal count was between 1.6 × 10⁵ and 1.9 × 10⁶ cells / g.

The samples were treated with saline solutions with concentrations of 2, 4 and 6% for half an hour at 5 ° C and left to dry by air. Hot smoking was carried out at 70-80 ° C for 3-4 hours in a local manufactured oven. The results of the statistical analysis showed that the average humidity was 43.29 for the control and 37.92 for the 6% saline concentration. The fat ranged between 10.7 in the control and gradually increased to 12.8 at the highest salt concentration. While protein ranged from 39.6 in the control to 43.2 for the sample treated with salt concentration 6%. The results of the microbiological examination of smoked fish showed that the average total microbial count was between 3 × 10³ and 5.9 × 10⁴ cells / g, while the total fungal count of smoked carp fish ranged between 3.8 × 10³ and 5.6 × 10⁴ cells/g. As for E. coli, samples taken from the coastal zone and the central region did not contain it, while the recorded count was 10.⁶ x 10 g / g in the local markets of Damascus. The statistical analysis shows that there are significant differences in the level of (P <0.05) between the results of the analysis, as the process of smoking reduce the humidity and increase the proportion of fat and protein based on wet weight. It also showed reduced microbial load in smoked fish samples.