Abstract:
This study was carried out to evaluate the amino acid, vitamin and
mineral profile of smoked fish as affected by smoking methods and
fish types. Forty samples of five types of fresh fish (Guinean barracuda, Spotted tilapia, Bonga shad, Nigerian tongue sole and Silver
catfish) were purposively collected from 20 processing centres in
Lagos State. The samples were divided into two batches, with each
batch smoked using traditional drum and modern kiln methods.
The contents of the smoked fish products (amino acids, vitamins
and minerals) were determined. Results showed that the amino
acid concentrations in g/100 g crude protein (cp) of lysine, arginine
and leucine were in the ranged 7.47–7.83, 6.27–6.54 and 7.32–7.68,
respectively, for drum-smoked fish, while those of the non-essential amino acids, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and glycine were in
the range 14.19– 14.52, 9.62–9.81 and 7.01–7.42, respectively.
Similar results were obtained from kiln-smoked fish samples
although with slightly higher values than in drum-smoked fish
samples. In conclusion, it was found from this study that smoking
method has no significant effect on the amino acid composition of
smoked fish samples, but fish types had. Moreover, smoking
method had a significant effect on vitamin contents; this might
be due to the temperature of smoking as some of the vitamins
investigated are heat labile. Thus, the high amino acid contents in
smoked fish could supplement the corresponding deficiency in
plant protein diets, especially in developing countries. Therefore,
the proteins in a mixed diet could be utilized optimally for a
healthy body constitution, especially among children and other
vulnerable groups.
