Chemical and Microbiological Hazards of Dried Fishes in Bangladesh: A Food Safety Concern

Abstract

Food safety along with nutrition is an important issue in the present word. Only nutritionally safe food can ensure a healthy balanced diet to consumers. Dried fish is a popular processed fishery product not only in our country, but also in many countries of the world. It is a very good source of dietary protein, lipid and minerals necessary for a healthy body. The consumers of dried fish in national and international level are losing their interest to buy dried fish due to poor quality and safety of the products. Therefore, we reviewed the state of knowledge regarding the contamination level of dried fish by heavy metals, harmful pesticides, amount of lipid oxidation, and microbial quantity and quality from several districts in Bangladesh. The data reviewed in this article revealed that several dried fishes contaminated with excess amount of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr etc.), pesticide residue (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, heptachlor, endrin, aldrin, dieldrin), higher degree of lipid oxidation, excess amount of total plate count and presence of highly pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella sp. Vibrio sp. were found in few dried fish that may cause substantial human health hazard after consumption. The possible factors of these hazards are traditional drying, use of illegal pesticides with higher dose, lack of maintaining proper hygiene, sanitation, packaging, storage, distribution as well as water pollution. These findings will be helpful to develop an effective quality control and assurance program for producing safe dried fishery products for domestic consumption as well as earning foreign currency.