Published Paper Details:

An attempt was undertaken to evaluate the nutritional and sensory quality of the value added food products such as fish cutlet, fish sauce, fish finger and fish chutney powder prepared from Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta). The shelf life quality of the prepared fish products was also studied. From the nutritional analysis, the protein content of fish cutlet (121 mg) and fish chutney powder (120mg) was found to be higher than the other fish products analysed; the other products used for the analysis were fish finger (110mg) and fish sauce (80 mg) respectively. The higher content of carbohydrate was observed in fish cutlet (0.92 mg) similar as in protein content, followed by fish sauce (0.71 mg), fish finger (0.57mg) and the lowest content of carbohydrate was shown in fish chutney powder (0.43 mg). The lipid content showed a decreasing trend of having 80 mg for fish chutney powder, 40 mg for fish finger, 30 mg for fish sauce and the lowest lipid content of 20 mg was observed in fish cutlet. The ash content of fish cutlet and fish chutney powder was assessed as 40 % and in fish finger and fish sauce the recorded ash content was 30%. The analysis of moisture content showed slight variations. Higher content (60%) of moisture was seen in fish finger and fish sauce followed by fish chutney powder and fish cutlet having value 40%. The sensory evaluation of fish products provided excellent results in colour, flavour, taste, texture and overall acceptability. The ideal shelf life for storing the fish products was found as 10 days in refrigerated condition. Thus the nutritional and sensory analysis revealed that the value added food products are healthy for human consumption and R. kanagurta is suitable for the preparation of the value added products.