Abstract
During transportation, storage and handling of canned fish, many changes might occur resulting in the production of toxic substances that could cause human poisoning. Therefore, the aim of the current research was to chemically, microbiologically and organoleptically evaluate some imported canned fish in local markets to make sure that they achieved the concept of safe food. The results revealed that canned fish samples contained high percentage of crude protein that ranged from 57.48% to 76.02% (DW). The total volatile nitrogen values (TVN) ranged from 7.01 to 18.04 mgN/100 g sample. Polyunsaturated fatty acids percentage ranged between 22.6% and 69.4%, of which linoleic acid (C18:2 ”omega-6″) recorded 34.4% in canned sardine and 66.3% in canned tuna, while (C22:2) was 10.8% in canned mackerel. The microbial examinations indicated that canned tuna and canned sardine samples had the least value of total viable bacterial count, but canned mackerel had the highest count ranging from 2.5 ± 0.01 × 102 to 4.6 ± 0.21 × 103 CFU/g. Staphylococcus aureus, coliform group, Clostridium sp. and anaerobic spore-forming bacteria producing H2S were not detected in all samples. The results showed that all studied canned fish samples were compatible with the Egyptian and Gulf specifications and were considered safe for human consumption.