Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of gill removal and gutting on the quality of Tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus) during different storage period using organoleptic, biochemical and microbiological aspects. There were two groups of samples of which one was intact and other was gill and gut removed. On the basis of sensory evaluation, processed fish showed higher shelf life than intact fish in every storage condition. For intact and processed fish, proximate analysis showed that moisture content raised slightly; protein and lipid content reduced gradually and ash had little change at ambient temperature, ice and frozen storage condition. At every storage condition, pH of both samples was rapidly decreased, then again it increased gradually. Microbial load of the intact sample increased from 3.11×105 CFU/g to 8.5×106 CFU/g in ice stored sample whereas microbial load of processed sample was 2.7×104 CFU/g to 5.2×105 CFU/g at 15th day of observation. On the other hand, microbial load of the intact sample at frozen storage increased from 3.11×105 CFU/g to 2.8×108 CFU/g but the microbial load of the processed sample increased at a level of 2.7×104 CFU/g to 1.9×107 CFU/g. Finally it is revealed that the removal of gill and gut decrease the rate of spoilage in fish which resulted in an extension of shelf life with higher nutritional value.

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