A Baseline Study on the Quality and Safety of Consumption of a Pest Species(Sarotherodon melanotheron)in Bataan,Philippines:Basis for Its Productive Utilization in the Fisheries Sector

The baseline study profiled Black-chin Tilapia(Sarotherodon.melanotheron),a fish farm pest species in Bataan,Philippines,in terms of yield(processing and fillet),proximate composition(moisture,ash,crude fat,and crude protein),heavy metal load(cadmium[Cd],lead[Pb],arsenic[As],and mercury[Hg]),and microbial count(aerobic plate,Escherichia coli,and Staphylococcus aureus counts).The purpose was to establish the species’safety and quality for consumption and potential utilization in the processing of higher value fishery products.A completely randomized experiment using two factors,fish size(standard and small sizes)and collection season(dry and wet seasons),was employed.The collected data were also compared against food consumption and processing standards and/or previous reports on more valuable species.The results showed that the species has a comparable yield and mineral load with the more popular farmed Nile Tilapia(Oreochromis niloticus).It has high moisture and protein compositions.It is a lean fish that can serve as a cheaper functional raw material for processed fishery products.Moreover,the results showed that the species have no As,Cd,and Pb contamination,although traces of Hg,far below the permissible limits,were detected.The Hg load varies across collection season and fish maturity suggesting its manageability.For the microbial contents,the species’aerobic plate,Escherichia coli,and Staphylococcus aureus counts were far below the standard limits,although best post-capture practices are still suggested due to the kind of microbial parameters measured.It was concluded that the Sarotherodon melanotheron infesting Bataan farm ponds can be consumed safely and has the quality of potential raw material for processed fishery products.However,further information is still needed to establish the best post-capture handling on the species.Also,more studies must be done to determine the impact of storage and processing on its stability.