Nutritional composition, sensory evaluation and Halal perspective African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed with diets containing najasa (impurities)

Wan Norhana Md. Noordin¹, Saadiah Ibrahim¹, Roslina A. Nawawi², Mutiara Dwi Sari³, Nurul Huda^4*

¹Fisheries Research Institute, Batu Maung, Penang, Malaysia.

²Fisheries Biosecurity Lab, Lot 82, Jalan Caruthers, off Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

³Faculty of Social Sciences, University College Bestari, Bandar Permaisuri, Setiu, Terengganu Darul Iman, Malaysia.

⁴Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Corresponding Author Email: drnurulhuda@ums.edu.my

Lately, Muslim consumers in Malaysia, are avoiding catfish (Clarias gariepinus) owing to the uncertainty of its halal status. This is due to the use of unclean/impure substances (najasa in Islamic law) as feed from animal carcasses or feed incorporated with animal waste (fat, blood or bone). Under the islamic law, animals which consume large quantities of najasa and led to noticeable changes of its odour, colour and taste of the meat are haram (forbidden) or makruh (undesirable). To our knowledge there is no investigation on whether the feed could alter the odour, taste or colour of the catfish from this perspective. Thus a study was undertaken to evaluate if feeding diets comprising of najasa will affect the nutritional composition and sensory characteristics of catfish.The fish were fed with imported pellets (consisting of 10-15% blood meal with porcine DNA detected), local pellets and 100% chicken offal for 12 weeks. The results showed treatment with imported pellets do not have a significant (p < 0.05) effect on the nutritional composition (proximate composition, amino acids and fatty acids profiles), colour, odour and flavour of catfish fillet, but significantly (p < 0.05) change the odour and flavour.

Catfish; Colour; Feed; Halal; Nutritional Composition; Sensory Evaluation

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