Bio-Preservation of Dried Fish : Bitter-melon as a Potential Bio-preservative for Dried Fish Products

Dried fish is an important source of animal protein in providing nutrition of the poor and economically disadvantaged peoples of Bangladesh. It is liked and consumed by a large number of people of the world due to its characteristic taste and flavor. But there are some disadvantages of dried fish. Generally two major infestations damage the products, one is dried fishes are frequently infested by blow fly and their larvae during drying phase and another is by beetle and mites in the storage condition that reduce the quality of the finished products. To overcome these problems, the fish processors use various insecticides and fungicides. Sun dried fish contaminated with insecticides has already created a wide spectrum of health hazard in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. This book provides a potential approach to the fish processors to overcome these problems based on the findings of the author's individual assessment. The study was conducted to see the effect of Bitter-melon extract against fly infestation on dried fish products. As Bitter-melon has good antimicrobial and insecticidal property, it could be a solution against fly infestation instead of insecticides and fungicides.