Abstract:
African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is one of the fishery resources in Malaysia. The
traditional post harvest treatment or preservation techniques and its relation to the
composition of fatty acid were analyzed. The objective of this study is to determine
the fatty acids composition of African catfish at four post harvest treatment salting,
pickling, smoking and freezing. After treatments, the lipid was extracted and the lipids
were purified by Thin- Layer Chromatoghraphy (TLC). Then, the samples were
analyzed by gas chromatoghraphy, Flame Ionize Detector (GC-FID) to determine the
fatty acids composition. Total lipids concentration was significantly higher in smoking
(0.23 ± 0.05 gig) compared to other treatments. Twenty fatty acid components were
identified in the tissue of African catfish. The dominant fatty acid was oleic acid (18:
1 ro 9) in all the samples. Saturated fatty acids (SAF As) were not significantly different
after treatments. Besides that, the most dominant polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUF As)
was (18: 3 ro 3, 18: 2 ro 6, and 18: 3 ro 6). The mean concentration of PUF A was
significantly higher in freezing treatment (26.0 ± 3.7 %) compared to other treatments.
Analysis of the fatty acid composition of African catfish at four different post harvest
treatments imply that after preservation the fatty acid composition which is PUF A
omega 3 and omega 6 of African catfish was changed but still existed for human diet.
