Author(s): Sarah Priscilla S and Nora Vigasini

Abstract:
Many contemporary foods available in the market today are rich in carbohydrates and fats but are deficient in protein and calcium. Consumption of such foods over a period of time may lead to overweight, obesity, hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes, osteopenia, osteoporosis etc. The need of the hour is to address micronutrient deficiencies at a young age before their onset by providing healthy alternatives. This is possible by incorporating fish in food based strategies in either preventing or treating nutrient deficiencies. Value added fish products have the potential to address this issue. One such product is fish soup powder prepared with bones that can serve as a concentrated source of nutrients across different age groups. In this study fish soup powder was prepared using white bait with bones in three different proportions of fish: starch (1:1, 2:1 & 3:1). The keeping quality of the product was assessed using specific biochemical and microbial tests. The findings showed that the product had good keeping quality for 14 days. Since there were no major differences in the microbial and biochemical quality of three different proportions of fish soup powder in the ordinary and vacuum packed samples, this study revealed that it is sufficient to store fish soup powder in sealed polythene covers and that vacuum packaging is not an absolute essentiality.