Protein-rich by-products from the canning industry, especially dark flesh of skipjack, have limited uses due to several factors such as darken color, susceptibility to oxidation and off flavour. Protein hydrolysates from skipjack dark flesh was produced with different type of industrial proteases (Alcalase®2.4L FG, Protamex®, Neutrase®1.5MG and Flavourzyme®500MG) for 60, 120, 180 and 240 min with level of proteases used of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% per weight of raw material. The degree of hydrolysis and free tryptophan content of hydrolysate were investigated. The results shows longer time with higher concentration of enzyme has increased the degree of hydrolysis. Alcalase®2.4L FG had the highest degree of hydrolysis among all proteases followed by Protamex®, Flavourzyme®500MG and Neutrase® 1.5MG. All enzymes increase free tryptophan content linearly with the increament of protease enzyme level. The longer the hydrolysis time, the higher the content of free tryptophan produced.
Microbiological qualities of fresh goat milk collected from two selected, popular dairy farms in Penang Island, Malaysia were evaluated, as a measure of food safety. Milk samples were screened for total plate counts, yeast and mould counts, psychrotrophic counts, Staphylococcus aureus, presumptive Escherichia coli, Coliforms and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which were in the range of (mean values) 4.2- 4.5, 4.2- 4.6, 3.1- 4.3, 2.7- 3.2, < 2- 4.6, 2.2- 4.0 and 4.1- 4.8 log CFU/ml, respectively in the two farms. Milk samples were also screened for the presence of selected foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella sp. Results
showed the presence of only Salmonella sp. (at 2.9 log CFU/ml) with the absence of Listeria monocytogenes. The outcome of this study assumes importance as the presence of microbial contaminants amounts indicates poor milk quality, which requires immediate consideration as it can pose serious health risk to consumers.
Unprocessed ‘budu’ is a mixture of anchovies and salt that has been fermented for a period of time, and has not been heat-treated nor formulated with additional ingredients. This study analyzed Malaysian
unprocessed ‘budu’ from 12 producers for microbiological, salt, protein, histamine and 3-MCPD contents.
The results demonstrated that Malaysian unprocessed ‘budu’ were free from pathogenic Coliform, E. coli,
V. parahaemolyticus and V. cholerae contaminations. Carcinogenic 3-MCPD was below detection level of 2 ppb for all 12 samples tested. However, 58% of the unprocessed ‘budu’ had histamine content greater than the hazardous levels of 50 mg/100 g sample.