Research Progress on Nutritional Value, Preservation and Processing of Fish—A Review

Abstract

The global population has rapidly expanded in the last few decades and is continuing to increase at a rapid pace. To meet this growing food demand fish is considered a balanced food source due to their high nutritious value and low cost. Fish are rich in well-balanced nutrients, a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids and impose various health benefits. Furthermore, the most commonly used preservation technologies including cooling, freezing, super-chilling and chemical preservatives are discussed, which could prolong the shelf life. Non-thermal technologies such as pulsed electric field (PEF), fluorescence spectroscopy, hyperspectral imaging technique (HSI) and high-pressure processing (HPP) are used over thermal techniques in marine food industries for processing of most economical fish products in such a way as to meet consumer demands with minimal quality damage. Many by-products are produced as a result of processing techniques, which have caused serious environmental pollution. Therefore, highly advanced technologies to utilize these by-products for high-value-added product preparation for various applications are required. This review provides updated information on the nutritional value of fish, focusing on their preservation technologies to inhibit spoilage, improve shelf life, retard microbial and oxidative degradation while extending the new applications of non-thermal technologies, as well as reconsidering the values of by-products to obtain bioactive compounds that can be used as functional ingredients in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food processing industries.

Assessment of cooking methods and freezing on the nutritional value and health risks of heavy metals in four fish species consumed in Douala, Cameroon

“…Similar results were obtained by Tenyang et al [ 1 ] who showed that smoking increased potassium content in P. bichir bichir . Water losses during smoking allow the concentration of certain minerals [ 6 ] . Freezing reduced significantly (P < 0.05) potassium content in C. carpio and A. parkii .…”

“…The anisidine index increased significantly during freezing of Eriocheir sinensis at −20 °C compared to −40 °C and −80 °C after four weeks [ 106 ]. This could be explained by the fact that rapid freezing prevents the formation of microcrystals that can perforate cell membranes and release cell contents that can oxidise and the activity of endogenous enzymes [ 6 ]. As shown by Shahidi and Zhong [ 114 ], a desirable anisdine value of oil is lower than 4 with an upper limit of 6.0.…”

“…Minerals catalyze numerous metabolic reactions, maintain acid-base balance and are involved in the formation of bones, teeth, enzymes and hormones. Vitamins are involved in many biological processes and are precursors of coenzymes involved in metabolic pathways [ 6 ] . Cameroon, with a 402 km coastline on which artisanal fishing, industrial fishing and aquaculture are practiced, has an estimated annual fish production of 252,764 tons, with an average per capita consumption of 19.4 kg [ 7 ].…”

The construction of pH-sensitive starch-based carrier to control the delivery of curcumin for preservation

“…Fish is a part of a healthy diet and provides essential components such as proteins, vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and minerals that are necessary for human health. However, sh is spoiled easily due to microbial growth, enzymatic autolysis, and lipid oxidation (Ali et al 2022). Excellent preservation techniques can effectively prevent microbial spoilage and extend the shelf-life with limited adverse changes in the quality.…”

Effect on nutritional quality changes in fresh and canned Scomber australasicus and Scomberomorus guttatus

“…In conclusion, traditional thermal processing methods provide acceptable information and well‐tasting products. Despite this, they have many limitations such as long processing time, limited heat penetration and heterogeneous distribution of heat, which can lead to underheating or overheating problems (Ali et al., 2022 ).…”