TITLE:
Chemical and Microbiological Hazards of Dried Fishes in Bangladesh: A Food Safety Concern
AUTHORS:
Md. Golam Rasul, Chunhong Yuan, A. K. M. Azad Shah
KEYWORDS:
Organochlorine Chemicals, Heavy Metals, Lipid Oxidation, Microorganisms, Dried Fish
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.11 No.6,
June
17,
2020
ABSTRACT: Food safety along with nutrition is an important issue in the present
word. Only nutritionally safe food can ensure a healthy balanced diet to consumers.
Dried fish is a popular processed fishery product not only in our country, but
also in many countries of the world. It is a very good source of dietary
protein, lipid and minerals necessary for a healthy body. The consumers of
dried fish in national and international level are losing their interest to buy
dried fish due to poor quality and safety of the products. Therefore, we
reviewed the state of knowledge regarding the contamination level of dried fish
by heavy metals, harmful pesticides, amount of lipid oxidation, and microbial
quantity and quality from several districts in Bangladesh. The data reviewed in
this article revealed that several dried fishes contaminated with excess amount of heavy metals
(Pb, Cd, Cr etc.), pesticide residue (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane,
heptachlor, endrin, aldrin, dieldrin), higher degree of lipid oxidation, excess
amount of total plate count and presence of highly pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella sp. Vibrio sp. were found in few dried fish that may cause substantial human health
hazard after consumption. The possible factors of these hazards are traditional
drying, use of illegal pesticides with higher dose, lack of maintaining proper
hygiene, sanitation, packaging, storage, distribution as well as water
pollution. These findings will be helpful to develop an effective quality
control and assurance program for producing safe dried fishery products for
domestic consumption as well as earning foreign currency.