Survey on the idle capacity of fish processing (freezing) plants in India - 2. East coast

The extent of idle capacity in the fish processing (freezing) plants in the east coast of India estimated by stratified random sampling and the factors responsible for the same are reported. The estimates of idle capacity of fish processing plants in the east coast for the years 1978 and 1979 were respectively 75.9% and 72.5% on the basis of 250 working days per annum and double shift per day. The percentage errors of estimates worked out to 6.9 for 1978 and 4.7 for 1979. The corresponding figures were worked out on the basis of 200 working days also. Substantial under-utilisation of plants in all the maritime states in the east coast accounted mainly to non-availability of raw material, high cost of production, shortage of power, scarcity of ice and potable water during peak season and frequent labour troubles.

Processing clam meat into pickles

Methods have been worked out for the production of pickles from clam (Velorita sp.) meat. The bacteriological quality of the clam meat at different stages of processing was studied. The clam pickles packed in glass bottles and sealed air tight remained in good condition for six months at ambient temperatures.

Evaluation of a summer institute on fish processing technology

The utility of Summer Institute Efficiency Index (SIEI) is demonstrated using data from evaluation of a summer institute in fish processing. The SIEI worked to 76.16 showing high efficiency rating. The acquisition of skills appears to be independent of coverage and utility perception. The three dimensions of evaluation correlate highly with SIEI.

Study on the quality of beche-de-mer in trade and shrinkage of specimens during processing

The beche-de-mer industry in India is a cent percent export oriented industry being confined to south east coast in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu. Chemical quality of 180 trade samples of beche-de-mer of four sizes collected from the beche-de-mer curing centres of Ramanathapuram district was studied. Moisture ranged from 6.2 to 24.4% and sand content from 0.11 to 20.42% for all grades. Mean values of sand content are for grade 1=3.47%, grade 2=4.50%, grade 3=3.68%, grade 4=6.87%. Sodium chloride was almost constant for all grades at 5.7%. TVBN values ranged from 10 to 78.4 mg%. 44 laboratory samples of different grades were prepared following trade practice and examined for chemical quality. Mean moisture values are for grade 1=13.4%, grade 2=12.44%, grade 3=12.62%, grade 4=12.08% and mean values of sand are for grade 1=0.70%, grade 2=0.90%, grade 3=1.16%, grade 4=2.15%. The percentage of shrinkage of the animals ranged from 56% to 60% for dried beche-de-mer of 7.5 cm size and above.

The dazzling array of basal branches in the mtDNA macrohaplogroup M from India as inferred from complete genomes

Many efforts based on complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes have been made to depict the global mtDNA landscape, but the phylogeny of Indian macrohaplogroup M has not yet been resolved in detail. To fill this lacuna, we took the same strategy as in o

High temperature processing of fish sausage 1. - An improved technique

An improved technique for the preparation of fish sausage (Nemipterus japonicus) over the conventional method (90°degree C for 1 h) has been evolved by processing at a temperature of 115.6°degree C (4.5 kg) for 20 min. The overall quality characteristics of fish sausage, particularly its colour, texture and appearance remained unchanged and the product was in good condition up to 9 days at ambient temperature in contrast to the shelf life of 3 days by conventional method. The design of the equipment used for the processing of fish sausage and the method of operation are described. The keeping quality of the product from an organoleptic stand point was also studied

High temperature processing of fish sausage 2. - Effect of certain preservatives on the shelf life

The effects of preservatives like fat coated sorbic acid (FCSA) and glucono-deltalactone (D-lactone), both separately and in combination, on the shelf life of high temperature (115.6°C for 20 min) processed fish sausage, stored at three different temperatures namely, ambient (28±2° C), cooler storage (2±2°C) and refrigerator (10±2° C) were studied. Whereas the control (without preservative), FCSA, D-lactone and FCSA + D-lactone treated samples could be stored for 9, 11 and 13 days respectively at ambient temperature, those stored at lower temperatures were found to be in acceptable condition for 70 and 80 days respectively. Organoleptic evaluation of taste, flavour the products carried out by panelists revealed that FCSA and FCSA + D-lactone treated samples were unacceptable with regard to the taste, flavour and texture. However, the taste flavour and texture of the control and D-lactone treated samples were in acceptable condition.

Development and evaluation of an alternative method for processing elastic-lidar return signals

A method for interpreting elastic-lidar return signals in heavily-polluted atmospheres is presented. It is based on an equation derived directly from the classic lidar equation, which highlights gradients of the atmospheric backscattering properties along the laser optical path. The method is evaluated by comparing its results with those obtained with the differential absorption technique. The results were obtained from locating and ranging measurements in pollutant plumes and contaminated environments around central México. © World Scientific Publishing Company.

High temperature processing of fish sausage 3. - Studies on some of the storage characteristics

The proximate composition of the high temperature processed fish sausage was found to be 14.56% protein, 4.65% fat, 69.14% moisture, 2.12% ash and 8.12% carbohydrate. The quality of the product during storage was assessed on the basis of the changes observed in the physical, chemical and microbiological parameters. The results of the different tests such as pH, volatile base nitrogen (VBN), trimethyl amine nitrogen (TMA-N) and jelly strength are summarized and discussed. The total bacterial load increased gradually during storage but was not proportional to the initial load.

Formulation, processing and water stability of pelleted feeds with varying levels of protein used in carp nutrition studies

Four dry pelleted feeds containing 20%, 30%, 40% and 45% protein were formulated incorporating casein as the main source of protein for use in carp nutrition studies. The caloric content in all the feeds was maintained constant. The method of processing is described. The formulated diets were tested for water stability. This test has revealed that the diet containing 20%, 30% and 40% protein had better stability than that containing 45% protein. This was due to the relatively higher fat content in the former three diets. However, all the feeds were sufficiently stable at the end of one hour in which time carps are known to utilise supplementary diets.

High temperature processing of fish sausage 4. - Heat penetration study

An examination was made of the rate of penetration of heat into fish sausage during processing at 115.6°C. Findings showed processing for 24 minutes to bring about complete destruction of Clostridium botulinum. A processing time of 30 minutes destroys almost all spoilage-causing organisms, thus prolonging the shelf life of the products.

Novel designs for Penning ion traps

A number of alternative designs are presented for Penning ion traps suitable for quantum information processing (QIP) applications with atomic ions. The first trap design is a simple array of long straight wires, which allows easy optical access. A prototype of this trap has been built to trap Ca+ and a simple electronic detection scheme has been employed to demonstrate the operation of the trap. Another trap design consists of a conducting plate with a hole in it situated above a continuous conducting plane. The final trap design is based on an array of pad electrodes. Although this trap design lacks the open geometry of the other traps described above, the pad design may prove useful in a hybrid scheme in which information processing and qubit storage take place in different types of trap. The behaviour of the pad traps is simulated numerically and techniques for moving ions rapidly between traps are discussed. Future experiments with these various designs are discussed. All of the designs lend themselves to the construction of multiple trap arrays, as required for scalable ion trap QIP.

Effect of pre-processing iced storage on deteriorative changes in lipids of silver pomfrets stored at -18°C

Silver pomfret (Pampus argenteus) was frozen in the fresh condition as well as after holding in ice for one, two and four days. Evaluation of changes in the quality of these samples during storage at -18°C has shown that shelf-life decreased sharply if the pre-freezing iced storage was more than one day. The shelf-life of one day iced, two day iced and four day iced frozen samples were 32, 20 and 16 weeks respectively. No correlation was observed between the peroxide value and the organoleptic detection of rancid flavour. Levels of free fatty acids were more in the samples frozen after storage in ice for one day than in all the other samples.