Study of the Differences Between Two SaltQualities on Microbiology, Lipid andWater-Extractable Components of Momoni,a Ghanaian Fermented Fish Product

Lipid oxidation and low final product quality observed during processing and storage of a Ghanaian fermented fish product were investigated with respect to the quality of salts used in the curing procedures, namely crude solar salt and refined salt. On analysis of differences in composition, refined salt had a lower moisture and microbial load than crude salt. Differences after fermentation and storage of both refined-salted and crude-salted fish were as follows: decreases in water activity of fish during processing was slower with crude salt than with refined salt; volatile basic nitrogen and total microbiological counts were higher in crude-salted fish; the polyamine of highest concentration in crude-salted samples was histamine, whilst cadaverine concentration dominated in fish fermented with refined salt. TBARS and peroxide values of the extracted total lipids increased during processing. Free fatty acid and diglyceride concentrations were higher in the crude-salted fish than in the samples with refined salt. Poly-enoic fatty acid levels were higher in the samples fermented with refined salt, whilst the levels of total cholesterol oxides were higher in the crude-salted samples.