Production of Fish Sauce from Low Cost Small Freshwater Fish and their Qualitative Evaluation

The study was conducted to produce fish sauce from small freshwater fishes like Kholisa ( Colisa fasciatus ), Tit punti ( Puntius ticto ), Jat punti ( Puntius sophore ), Tengra ( Mystus vittatus ), Taki ( Channa punctatus ), Gutum ( Lepidocephalichthys guntea ), Guchi ( Macrognathus pancalus ), Veda ( Nandus nandus ), and Bujuri ( Mystus tengara ) by using different concentrations of salt (25% as Treatment-I, 30% as Treatment-II and 35% as Treatment-III). Fishes were fermented for 9 months by the combined action of microorganisms and enzymes present in fish tissue and viscera in presence of salt. During fermentation the initial protein content in fish was 15.17% which were nearly digested and liquefied at the end of fermentation. Crude protein content on the basis of total nitrogen were found to be 14.58, 13.88 and 12.63% in Treatment-I, II and III respectively while the highest ash content in fish sauce was 22.97% in Treatment-III. Initial Total Volatile Base Nitrogen in fish was 1.92 mg/100g, which reached 20.88, 20.52 and 20.31 mg/100g respectively in three treatments. Initial aerobic plate count (APC) in fish was 5.99 × 10 6 cfu/g and after fermentation and 15 days of aging the APC in fish sauce was reduced to 1.53 × 10 4 cfu/ml in Treatment-I, 1.40 × 10 4 cfu/ml in Treatment-II and 1.27 × 10 4 cfu/ml in treatment-III. The major bacterial groups identified in fish sauce were Bacillus, Micrococcus, Lactobacillus and Pseudomonas. Considering the values of different parameters and result of panel test, fish sauce produced with 25% salt (Treatment-I) was found to be of best quality. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/pa.v24i1-2.19170 Progress. Agric. 24(1&2): 171 - 180, 2013