الفهرس 
Fish Preservation and ProcessingOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
During the past two decades, Egypt witnessed a major boom in fish farming
with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency in high-quality fish and to cover the deficit
in animal protein for the Egyptian citizen and reduce the gap between production and
consumption. Fish farms are considered one of the most important sources of food
production in Egypt, as they contribute about 80% of the total fish production.
This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the quality and safety of
mullet fish produced from two farms in Fayoum Governorate and studying the effect
of smoking as a preservation and processing treatment on the quality of smoked fish
with a focus on the safety of smoked products by determining levels of chemical and
microbial pollutants in order to ensure consumer safety. The study also included
tracking the changes that occur in smoked products during cold storage at a low
temperature (3.0 ± 1°C) to determine the stability of these products during storage.
An evaluation of the fresh raw mullet obtained from the two farms under study was
carried out by estimating the chemical composition, physicochemical quality
characteristics, levels of contamination with heavy metals, levels of contamination
with biogenic amines and microbial contamination. The smoking process was also
conducted and the quality of smoked products was evaluated chemically,
microbiologically and sensory. The levels of contamination with polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, total volatile basic nitrogenous, trimethylamine, biogenic amines,
levels of heavy metals, and levels of contamination with microorganisms, especially
coliform bacteria, were determined. Also, sensory evaluation of the quality
characteristics of smoked products was conducted. The study also included
determining the stability of smoked products during cold storage.
The study proved the existence of some differences between mullet fish
samples obtained from the two farms in terms of chemical composition,
physicochemical quality characteristics, and levels of biogenic amines, heavy metals,
and microbial examination. This also resulted in differences in the smoked products
that were manufactured from the fish obtained from each of the two farms, as the
results of chemical analysis, quality evidence and microbial examination supported
this.
The study also showed that the smoked fish contains polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, biogenic amines and heavy metals, and that the contents of cold
smoked fish of these compounds are higher than their levels in hot smoked fish.
Despite the presence of these chemical and microbial contaminants, all the samples
of raw fish obtained from the two farms and their smoked products, whether by hot
smoking or cold smoking, are safe and of high sensory quality. The chemical analysis,
microbial examination and sensory evaluation during cold storage showed that
smoked samples retained their quality for periods ranging from 25 to 35 days.