Nutritional Quality of Osmotically Dehydrated Catfish (Clarias garipinus) and Beef as Influenced by Sodium Chloride Concentration
In this work, the influence of sodium chloride (solute) concentration on the nutritional quality of osmotically dehydrated Catfish and beef were evaluated, using vitamin C as quality marker. Results show that at 95% confidence interval, NaCl concentrations play significant role in the stability of vitamin C in both catfish muscle and beef during osmotic dehydration. The vitamin C value of catfish degraded from 20.5% to 88.76% for corresponding NaCl concentration levels of 10% to 90% respectively. For beef, 18.46% to 69.23% reduction of vitamin C was recorded for respective 10% to 90% NaCl concentration. It is therefore advised that if sodium chloride must be used as solute in the osmotic dehydration of the above agricultural products, then, the dehydrated products must be fortified with adequate vitamin C before consumption.
