Fermented Fish and Fish Products: An Overview - Aquaculture Microbiology and Biotechnology - page 132

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Fermented Fish and Fish
Products: An Overview
Smita H. Panda, 1, * Ramesh C. Ray, 2 Aly F. El Sheikha, 3
Didier Montet 4 and Wanchai Worawattanamateekul 5
INTRODUCTION
Fish is an important source of protein in the human diet. However, fi sh also
has the disadvantage that if it is not salted, dried, smoked or preserved in
some way or another, it will quickly spoil. In warm regions such as tropical
countries, access to fresh fi sh can be a problem mainly in rural areas owing
to the shortage of ice and lack of refrigeration (Anihouvi et al., 2007).
Fermentation is the most important way of preserving fi sh. Fermented fi sh
is used both as fl avouring and as a source of protein. Fish fermentation in
the Southeast Asian region normally lasts for 3-9 mon and the fi sh fl esh may
be liquefi ed or turned into a sauce or paste. Some of the products include
Nuoc-mam of Vietnam and Cambodia, Nam-pla of Thailand, Sushi of Japan
and Patis of the Philippines. No African fi shery products are mentioned in
the FAO Fisheries Report No. 100 (FAO, 1971) on fermented fi sh; however
fessiekh from Egypt and Sudan is mentioned as a Mediterranean product.
1 Agri-Bioresource Research Foundation, 81, District Centre, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar 751
010, Orissa, India; Tel/Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]
2 Regional Centre, Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Bhubaneswar 751 019, Orissa, India;
Tel/Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]
3 Minufi ya University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Food Science and Technology, 32511
Shibin El Kom, Minufi ya Government, Egypt; Tel.: [phone]; Fax: [phone];
E-mail: [e-mail]
4 Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, CIRAD,
UMR Qualisud, TA 95B/16, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Tel.: [phone];
Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]
5 Department of Fishery Products, Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900,
Thailand; Tel.: [phone] press 4088; Fax: [phone] press 12; E-mail ss: ffi [e-mail]
*Corresponding author