Minerals Composition of Ikan Lunak fish products produced by KUNITA Tok Bali Malaysia community during knowledge transfer programme

Abstract

The fishery sector in Malaysia has been playing an important role in providing employment and generating incomes to the nation for many decades. Fish is well-known for its importance animal protein source essential for humans’ growth and health. Fishproducts also receives high demand from all over the world due to the nutritional values and sensorial preference by consumers. In this program, ten fishermen’s housewives from Kumpulan Wanita Nelayan (Tok Bali), Pasir Puteh Kelantan had participated in a knowledge transfer program to empower knowledge, skills and entrepreneurship. The community produces ikan lunak or soft boned fish product during the program. Fish with too many bones give inconvenience to be consumed thus often been underutilized or discarded. Thus, the objectives of this study were to determine minerals composition of ikan lunak prepared using two types of fish that were catfish and Atlantic mackerel fish. The minerals (Mg, K, Ca, Na and Zn) content was determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) equipped with computerized auto-sampler. Nutritional compositions were determined according to AOAC methods. The results showed that ikan lunak fish products contained 2.54-3.46 mg/100g of calcium, 0.176-0.344 mg/100g of potassium, 0.1580-0.198 mg/100g of magnesium, 0.272-0.197 mg/100g of sodium and 0.122-0.132 mg/100g of zinc. The fish products also contained high amount of protein, fat and ash. In conclusion, ikan lunak fish product prepared using catfish and Atlantic mackerel fish were good source of minerals and nutritional compositions. This convenient fish products can be expanded for future markets to generate more incomes to the community.