Effect of Smoking Methods and Refrigerated Storage on Physicochemical, Microbiological and Sensory Properties of the Sagan Fish

Smoked fish is a worldwide very popular and delicious product.  This study aimed to investigate the effects of smoking methods and cold storage 4±1°C on the proximate composition, physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of sagan fish. Results revealed that the smoking process significantly decreased the values of moisture, pH, total viable bacteria, yeast and mould counts, while it significantly increased the values of protein, lipid, ash, sodium chloride, carbohydrate, total volatile basic nitrogen, trimethylamine nitrogen, thiobarbituric acid. On the other hand, total coliform decreased during cold smoking though it was not detected in hot smoked samples. Regarding the storage conditions, the moisture content was significantly decreased during storage at 4±1°C, while the values of protein, lipid, ash, sodium chloride, pH, total volatile basic nitrogen, trimethylamine nitrogen, thiobarbituric acid, total viable bacteria, yeast and mold counts and total coliform were significantly increased. Overall acceptability illustrated that hot smoked segan products were highly accepted compared to cold smoked and all those processed by cold storage. Therefore, the results indicated that hot smoked sagan fish possessed higher quality, safety and acceptance than the cold-smoked fish. By cold storage, shelf life was 40 days for hot-smoked compared to 30 days for cold smoked.