TITLE:
Proximate and Elemental Composition of Important Fish Species in Makkah Central Fish Market, Saudi Arabia
AUTHORS:
Shady M. El Shehawy, Ali A. Gab-Alla, Hamed M. A. Mutwally
KEYWORDS:
Fish, Proximate Chemical Composition, Minerals, Heavy Metals, Metal Pollution Index
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.7 No.6,
May
24,
2016
ABSTRACT: In spite of the established nutritive value of seafood, fishes have a
special ability to store some toxic substances such as heavy metals because of
its own respiration system. The goal of current study was to explore the proximate
chemical composition, minerals content and levels of heavy metals in edible
portions of some important commercial fish species available at Makkah Central
Fish Market, Saudi Arabia. The obtained results showed that Indian oil sardine
fish had the highest value of crude oil (dry weight) recorded 38.00%, while,
rusty parrot fish sample had the least of 1.17%. In contrast, rusty parrot fish
had the highest value of crude protein represented 90.75% (dry weight),
meanwhile, Indian oil sardine had the least of 54.19%. Consuming about 250 g of
Indian oil sardine will cover 100% of Fe RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowances), eating
500 g of the same fish will cover about 30% of Ca RDA. While, 500 g of gilt
head bream which has the highest content of K, Na and Mg will cover about
11.7%, 1.5% and 4.1% of these minerals RDA, respectively. As physical hazards,
fourteen samples from the thirty three studied samples exceeded the permissible
limit of Pb and Cd representing about 42%. Therefore, it is strongly recommended
not to eat head, gills or viscera of all fishes.