Scientific evaluation of Shidal technology - An age old traditional practice of fish preservation of Northeast India

Abstract

Fermented fish products are consumed by the ethnic people of northeast India as part of their daily diet and also play a significant role in their traditional life style beside some traditional beliefs regarding their health beneficial effects. Among these, fermented fish product prepared from Puntius sp. and Setipinna phasa, known as Shidal is most popular and widely consumed in different states of northeast India. The study was conducted to evaluate the scientific technology regarding processing and production of shidal as well as quality characteristics of Shidal prepared from both the species. The proximate composition shidal indicate their importance in human nutrition particularly in terms of crude protein and lipid. Volatile nitrogenous compounds were found in higher range in both the products; however, lipid oxidation was limited may be due to absence of prooxidants. Both fermented Puntius sp. and Setipinna phasa samples of NEI were found to be loaded with higher number of microbes with significant contribution from lactic acid bacteria which indicates their probiotic importance.