Retort processing of Malabar style curry from cage cultured tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

Abstract

Cage culture of tilapia is an upcoming technology targeted to increase the production. The high production necessitates the development of better post-harvest practices for efficient use of tilapia. To improve the utilization, retort processed ready to eat (RTE) Malabar style curry was prepared using fried and non-fried tilapia and the thermal process characteristics along with sensory and microbiological parameters were studied. The come up time (CUT) for the steam retort was observed to be 3 min. The non-fried and fried tilapia were sterilized to the lethality values (F0) of 8.78 and 10.11, respectively. The heating and cooling lag factors for fried tilapia curry were markedly different from non-fried tilapia curry. The Ball’s process time for fried tilapia curry was found to be higher compared to non-fried tilapia curry .Both the products were found to be commercially sterile. Sensorily, both fried and non-fried tilapia in RTE form were accepted by the panellists.