Mineral Composition and Fatty Acid Profile of Smoked Horse Mackerel Trachurus Murphyi Using an Improved Fish Smoking Kiln

The purpose of this research was to determine the quality of mineral and fatty acid profile of imported horse mackerel Trachurus murphyi using the improved NIOMR fish smoking kiln. 20kg of frozen imported horse mackerel were obtained from Ijora frozen food market Lagos state, Nigeria. Samples were transported to the NIOMR Pilot plant for processing and commencement of chemical analysis. Results show that, the most abundant saturated fatty acid in the fish was Palmitic acid, with a value of 19.404%, while the most abundant monounsaturated fatty acid was Elaidic acid with a value of 12.63%. However, low values of polyunsaturated fatty acid was recorded in the fish species, and the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid is the Docosahexaenoic acid with a value of 2.297%. The most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid recorded is Linoleic acid (2.075 while the least abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid was eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5n-3). There was significant variation (p < 0.05) in the level of Docosahexaenoic acid and Eicosapentaenoic acid in the fish species. The monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) content of horse mackerel was mainly omega-9 fatty acids except Palmitoleic acid which is an omega-7 fatty acid. It can be concluded that the horse mackerel has a good mineral and fatty acid profiling.