Quality Of The European Anchovy, Engraulis Encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758) Processed From Open Sun Drying And Solar Tent Drying Methods In Ghana.

ABSTRACT Traditional open sun drying method is still the predominant drying method especially for anchovy in Ghana. In this study solar tent dryer (STD) and open sun drying (OSD) methods were used to determine the flesh quality of Engraulis encrasicolus. Fresh fish samples (FFS) were dried using the two methods and the quality of dried anchovy was compared with two different traditional open sun dried samples from Tema (TOSDT) and Accra (TOSDA). It was observed that STD and OSD methods had similar drying rates of 76.39% and 76.77% respectively after twenty hours of drying. After proximate analysis, moisture contents of 17.30 ± 0.11%, 17.61 ± 0.31%, 17.68 ± 0.04%, 18.15 ± 0.02% and 75.99 ± 0.31% were obtained for OSD, STD, TOSDA, TOSDT and FFS respectively. The protein values were 40.96 ± 0.01%, 53.08 ± 0.36%, 33.95 ± 0.01%, 12.19 ± 0.00% and 8.63 ± 0.00% for OSD, STD, TOSDA, TOSDT and FFS respectively. The fat contents were 5.60 ± 0.03%, 4.46 ± 0.40%, 3.67 ± 0.319%, 2.56 ± 0.00% and 1.62 ± 0.00% for OSD, STD, TOSDA, TOSDT and FFS respectively. Ash values under OSD, STD, TOSDA, TOSDT and FFS were 14.02 ± 0.78%, 12.41 ± 0.17%, 14.99 ± 0.74%, 15.29 ± 0.12% and 3.67± 0.14% respectively. Microbiological quality showed total viable counts of 5.0 ± 0.00×103 cfu/g, 9. 5 ± 0.02×101 cfu/g, 2.5 ± 0.00×102 cfu/g, 21.0 ± 0.01×102 cfu/g and 6.5 ± 0.01×101 cfu/g for FFS, OSD, TSD, TOSDA and TOSDT respectively. Faecal coliform counts of 7. 0 ± 0. 00 ×101 cfu/g were only found in FFS. Staphylococcus aureus counts of 7.5 ± 0.02×101 cfu/g, 6.0 ± 0.00×101 cfu/g, 3.3 ± 0.01×103 cfu/g and 1.8 ± 0.00×102 cfu/g were observed for FFS, OSD, TOSDA and TOSDT respectively but no S. aureus was present in STD samples. Escherichia coli was also not reported for STD but the following counts were made 2. 5 ± 0. 00 × 01 cfu/g, 1. 5 ± 0.04 ×101 cfu/g, 2. 5 ± 0.01×101 cfu/g and 2.0 ±  0.0×101 cfu/g in respect of FFS, OSD, TOSDA and TOSDT. The study established that STD provided improved and hygienic drying option to the traditional sun drying methods. These finding would therefore lead to better ways of improving the storage processing and marketing anchovies in Ghana.