Proximate composition of cooked vs raw South African Cape snoek (Thyrsites atun)

Abstract

Cape snoek (Thyrsites atun) is an important affordable source of animal protein within the Western Cape region of South Africa, but limited information about the nutritional value of raw and cooked Cape snoek is available. This study examined the proximate composition of raw and cooked Cape snoek in order to quantify the nutritional value and make the information available to consumers and processors, and the nutritional tables for South African Foodstuffs. The crude percentage moisture, ash, total lipids and protein content of ten flecked Cape snoek were determined according to official AOAC methods. Total carbohydrates were calculated as the difference of protein, total lipids, and ash from the dry matter. Samples from the left hand sides were kept raw, while samples from the right hand sides were cooked in a water bath at 800C for one hour. The mean moisture, ash, total lipids, protein and carbohydrates for raw snoek were 72.75 ±1.86, 1.25 ± 0.09, 3.99 ± 1.16, 21.48 ± 1.35, and 0.54 ± 0.80%. With the exception of total lipids, cooking in water had a significant effect on the proximate composition of Cape snoek; cooked samples showed lower moisture (69.40 ± 2.03%), lower ash (1.12 ± 0.12%), higher protein (24.47 ± 1.39%), and higher carbohydrate (0.66 ± 1.60%) content. From these results it is concluded that Cape snoek is very high in protein (as compared to other fish species in the literature) and can be classified as a lean fish (total lipid< 5%) and is thus a healthy source of affordable animal protein.