Vol. 7, Issue 11 (2018)

Author(s):
A Devi Dharshini, M Latha Mala Priyadharshini, D Baskaran and G Dhinakar Raj

Abstract:
Regulating the intake of sodium is in need of the hour pertaining to the established health effects of high sodium consumption. Labeled food products from organized food sectors provide information on sodium levels, while in unorganized sector the sodium content of some of the heavily salted food products such as dry fish goes unnoticed. This report is presented based on the studies from 12 commercial dry fish samples collected form Chennai, one of the major sea food export coastal region of India. The samples were tested for NaCl, sodium and moisture content. The NaCl content was found to be well above 15% in 7 samples, between 10-15% in 2 samples and below 10% in 3 samples. Consequently 9 samples had sodium content above 2000 mG/100G and it was evident that NaCl content of more than half the samples was not in compliance with the FSSAI regulations of 10-15% NaCl content by weight of salted dry fish. This situation poses a serious threat to health and calls for the awareness of the local manufacturers on the level of salting in processed dry fish. Attending to this need an experiment was conducted by processing anchovies (Stolephorus spp.) with 1-8% salt w/w of fresh fish and it was found that 3-5% of salting would to be sufficient to meet the FSSAI regulations.