Post-harvest Quality of Fresh Pama fish (Pama pama) From Three Fish Market in Patuakhali District

Abstract

Post-harvest quality losses of fish are the great concern for the fisheries sectors of Bangladesh especially in aspects of food security and public health issues. Therefore, the present study was conducted aimed for evaluation of organoleptic, biochemical and bacteriological quality of Pama (Pama pama) fish in local fish market of Patuakhali district. The fish sample was collected from three different markets namely Pirtola, Rajakhali and New market of Patuakhali district and the study was conducted from July to November 2016. Organoleptic method was used for sensory quality assessment of fish sample by ten trained pannelist. Proximate composition of fish sample was determined following AOAC method and bacteriological study was carried out according to the Standard Plate Count method. From the results, organoleptically the fish from the respective three different fish market were excellent and highly acceptable. Furthermore, biochemical study revealed that there were no significant different in nutrient content of fish sample collected from three different markets (p>0.05). Among the compositions, higher moisture content (79.87 to 84.67%) and lower ash content (0.99 to 1.99 %) was observed for Pama pama, irrespective of fish market. In general, similar sensory and biochemical quality was observed for fish from three different market referred acceptable post-harvest handling and preservation of fish. However, significant different and cooperatively higher bacterial load  was observed 4.82 × 109, 4.43 ×109 and 1.63 × 109 CFU/g for Pirtola fish market, Rajakhali fish and New market fish market, respectively (p<0.05). Therefore, the post-harvest quality evaluation through organoleptic and biochemical aspects of Pama fish (Pama pama) from three different fish market in Patuakhali district suggested acceptable fish quality which leads to supply of higher nutrient content without any public health concern. Besides, bacteriological study indicated that further improvement in post-harvest handling, preservation and hygiene practice are required.