Utilization of carp and other skeletal muscle tissues in a puffed snack food

The research objective of this study was to develop a meat snack product from low-utilized fish in combination with other skeletal muscle tissues, and to determine how different combinations of skeletal muscle tissues would affect the sensory attributes, chemical composition, physical properties and microbial growth of the snack product. Five treatments were formulated from the combinations of meat tissues as follows: 20:10:10, 30:5:5, 30:10:0, 30:0:10 and 40:0:0 percent fish, beef and chicken respectively.

There was no significant effect on the color among treatments of sensory panelists for deep-fried crackers. This showed that the combination of fish with beef and chicken was no different in color than all fish (control) crackers. It appears that cooking reduced differences in color among treatments. With the exception of treatment 3 (30 percent fish, 5 percent beef and 5 percent chicken), the flavor scores for all treatments were significantly above the slightly desirable flavor level.

With the decrease in percentage of beef the flavor score tended to decrease.

Texture scores for all the treatments were not significantly different (P<0.05) from the control treatment. There was significant different (P<0.05) between replicates. The treatments were all scored above slightly acceptable for overall acceptability, except treatment 3 which was moderately acceptable. The overall acceptability of fish crackers was more related to flavor than the other sensory attributes studied.

The non-American panel rated the deep-fried puffed crackers significantly higher for all sensory attributes except texture than the American panel.

Data on Hunter color values showed that the different combination of sketetal muscle tissues did affect the lightness, redness and yellowness of the deep-fried product.

Significant difference (P<0.05) was determined on Instron measurements of texture (crispness). The trend generally indicated that the treatment with the high percentage of beef tended to have higher mean scores.

There was significant effect on the expansion measurements due to treatment. Treatments with beef were observed to have better expansion properties due to the presence of gelatin.

The treatments differed significantly in percentage of moisture, fat, protein, ash, fiber and carbohydrate. Percentage moisture and percentage protein increased with the decrease in fat content of the raw and fried products. The moisture content of fried product was lower than that of raw product while the fat content was very much higher. The percentage ash and percentage fiber remained constant before and after frying.

Coliforms, yeast and mold were not detected in any treatment for both raw and deep-fried products. A low aerobic plate count reflected that the product had good microbial quality.