A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCEIN FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY ASSUARANCE OF SOKOINE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, MOROGORO, TANZANIA.
Quality deterioration of Lake Victoria sardines is one of the most common claims from the final consumers which causes the change of use from human food to animal feed. Evaluation of post-harvest loses of Lake Victoria sardine was done by using three different methods, which are chemical laboratory analysis, microbial analysis and sensory evaluation. In this study it was shown by significant increase in total bacteria count seen from all samples taken along the steps of the value chain starting from fishing ground vessel (FGV) samples (102), off shore processors samples (OSP) (more than 103) up to market samples (OMS) (more than 103). The same trend was shown by total coliform count as well as Escherichia coli, tested in all the samples that ranged from (102) to (more than 103). Yeast and moulds showed remarkably large number of growth in all samples, starting from fishing ground vessel (FGV) samples, which was due to the state in which samples were taken to the laboratory since all the samples were taken to the laboratory in the dried form. However, there was no growth of Salmonella in all the samples. Lead was the only heavy metal tested in this study and among the samples only one sample taken from off shore processors came up with a positive result of 0.01mg/L of this metal. Sensory evaluation results of the products showed significant differences among the samples starting with high mean intensity scores for fishing ground samples.Minimum scores were observed in open market samples. Consumer study in sensory evaluation of the fish samples also suggested the same and shown by preference mapping results in which most consumers preferred fishing ground samples to the same as off shore samples just before processing. Improvement of the drying techniques and off shore processing environment as well as transportation and packaging facilities are necessary for achieving quality improvement and preventing post-harvest losses of sardines.