Quality Parameters of Some Marketed Frozen Fish in Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

Fish deteriorative changes could occur directly after catching, storage, and retailing. One hundred samples of Scomber scombrus (S. scombrus), Clupea pilchardus (C. pilchardus), Pagrus pagrus (P. pagrus), Oreochromis niloticus (O. niloticus), and Mugil cephalus (M. cephalus) (20, each) were randomly collected from different fish markets at Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt , The respective mean values of pH, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N mg/100g), and thiobarbituric acid (TBA mg/kg) were 6.52 ± 0.11, 37.75 ± 4.79 and 3.91± 1.7 in S. scombrus, 6.45 ± 0.28, 41.41 ± 5.62 and 3.25± 1.24 C. pilchardus , 6.58 ± 0.06, 45.97± 6.61 and 3.25± 1.4 in P. pagrus, 6.75 ± 0.22, 23.5 ± 3.35 and 1.20± 0.42 in O. niloticus , 6.68 ± 0.16, 30.82 ± 4.32 and 1.75± 0.38 in M. cephalus . The histamine value in S. scombrus was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than other species, but all examined samples were within the permissible limit . The P. pagrus species contained significant higher ( P < 0.05) aerobic plate count (APC), Pseudomonas spp, and Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) in comparison to other species. The O. niloticus contained the lowest microbial counts, chemical changes, and histamine. The examined fish was contaminated with S. aureus and Pseudomonas; in addition to some samples have high level of TVB-N and TBA than the recommended level. The level of histamine in the examined fish was below the level that induces public health hazard or toxicity.