Nutritional composition, product development, shelf-life evaluation and quality assessment of pacu Piaractus brachypomus (Cuvier, 1818)

Abstract

Red-bellied pacu Piaractus brachypomus has a characteristic pomfret like shape and is marketed as freshwater pomfret. Pacu flesh had adequate amounts of protein (17%) and fat (1.19%). Essential amino acids formed 80.5% of the total amino acids of pacu meat. Histidine (32.55%), lysine (25.77%) and phenyl alanine (8.88%) were the predominant essential amino acids. Pacu meat was rich in unsaturated fatty acids (85.5%) of which mono unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) constituted 53% and 32.5%, respectively. The predominant MUFA, PUFA and SFA were palmitoleic acid-C16:1 (44.3%), α-linolenic acid-C18:3 (15.6%) and stearic acid-C18:0 (13.1%), respectively. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosa hexaenoic acid (DPA) were relatively low at 1.87%, each. During iced storage of whole and gutted fish, moisture content increased and fat content decreased with storage period. The TVBN, TMA, AAN, PV, FFA, APC, H2S producing bacteria showed an increasing trend during iced storage. Chemical and microbiological analyses showed that, both whole and gutted pacu can be stored under iced condition for a period of 13 days. Fish fingers prepared using pacu meat and batter had a moisture and protein content of 59.47% and 12.59% respectively and stored well for 2 months in air packing and 3 months in vacuum packing at -20°C. Pacu meat and fingers could serve as nutritionally good food item, but for the presence of fine spines in the flesh.