Nutritional, Microbial and Sensory Quality of Solar Tent Dried (Samva Nyengo) and Open Sun Dried Copadichromis virginalis -Utaka (Pisces; Cichlidae)

A comparative analysis of solar tent drying (Samva Nyengo) and open sun drying were evaluated for their effectiveness on quality of Copadichromis virginalis on nutritional content, microbial load and sensory quality. Solar tent dried and open sun dried Copadichromis virginalis contained 62.89±0.05% and 62.73±0.096% of crude protein, 23.24±0.66% and 23.41±0.59% of fat, 7.22±0.021% and 16.31±0.36% of moisture 14.48±1.08% and 21.97±0.36% of ash respectively. Moisture and ash were significant difference (p = 0.001), crude protein and crude fat showed a non-significant difference (p = 0.05). Open sun dried had significantly higher bacteria load (4.1×10 5 CFU/g) (0.001) than solar tent dried fish (2.2×10 2 CFU/g). Isolated bacteria from solar tent dried and open sun dried fish were 1.2×10 1 and 5.0 ×10 3 for Total coliform, 0 and 1.0 × 10 4 for Escherishia coli , 0 and 6.1 × 10 3 for Salmonella , 0 and 3.8 ×10 3 for Shigella , 5.9×10 2 and 5.1×10 4 for Psuedomonas . Panellist had high preference for solar tent dried than open sun dried fish confirmed by scores for overall acceptability which were high at 3.8 and 2.2 respectively. The results reveal a possible application of solar tent drying as a SMART proven and emerging technology for fish processing in Malawi. It has proved that use of solar tent drying would support fish processors to produce quality dried fish with good nutritive value, reduced microbial contamination, and consumer acceptability that will be central to food security of the country.