The Biochemical Composition of Three Exotic Fish Delicacies: Scomber scombrus, (Linnaeus, 1758), Trachurus trachurus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Sardina pilchard (Walbaum, 1792) Frozen and Imported into Nigeria

Abstract

Three species of exotic fish imported into Nigeria namely; Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792) Trachurus trachurus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Scomber scombrus (Linnaeus, 1758) were analyzed to determine the proximate composition of its nutrients and the contents of some of its macro- and micro - minerals using the methods recommended by AOAC. These fishes were bought from a major cool storage facility in Calabar, Nigeria. This cool storage facility is one of the major outlets for the distribution of imported frozen foods in the Cross River State of Nigeria. From this facility, the fish and other frozen and imported foods are distributed to retailers for sale in open market while still frozen. Results showed that the moisture content of these species were not significant (p>0.05). The crude protein ranged from 14.02-19.5% while the fat values were 9.9, 7.4 and 9.5% in S. scombrus, T. trachurus and S. pilchardus respectively, measured values for ash in the species were low between 1.30-1.53%. The mineral content of the three species were equally not significantly different from each other (p>0.05). Some macro-elements were high with calcium measuring 2.60 mg/100 gm in S. pilchardus while the value of iron ranged from 0.03-0.05 mg/100 gm in the species. We observed that the concentration of copper was high exceeding the WHO recommended safety limits for metals in seas foods.