Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Fatty acidsâ?? profile of mostly consumed Lebanese fish from the Mediterranean region

4^th International Conference and Exhibition on Food Processing & Technology

August 10-12, 2015 London, UK

Joane Matta, Pascale Milene, Elly Mattar and Marc Beyrouthy

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Background: The recommendations of fish intake in Lebanon are based on international data that may not apply to this country.
Modest data is available regarding fatty acids especially omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids composition of fish in
Lebanon.
Objective: Assess the fatty acid profile of the mostly consumed fish in the Lebanese region as well as fish grown in the Lebanese
Mediterranean Sea.
Methods: The most consumed fish species in the selected region were identified following a questionnaire done for 13 fisheries and
seafood restaurants. The selected species were: Sparus aurata, Boops boops, Pagrus pagrus, Sphyraena chrysotaenia, Epinephelus aeneus,
Merlangius merlangus, Dentexgibbosus and Mullus barbatus. Three samples of each fish type were analyzed as follows: Lyophilization
of fish samples, oil extraction in Soxhlet apparatus, esterification of the extracted oil, centrifugation of the obtained solution and lipid
analysis through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
Results: The lipid content ranged from 3.03% for Pagrus pagrus to 15.33% in Boops boops. Saturated fatty acid content ranged from
5.8% in Sphyraena chrysotaenia to 28.5% in Pagrus pagrus. Monounsaturated fatty acids varied between different species and ranged
from 26.6% in Boops boops to 73.6% in Merlangius merlangus. The most abundant monounsaturated fatty acid was methyl oleate.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids percentage varied between 8.2% in Sparus aurata to 56.6% in Dentex gibbosus. Omega-3 content was
higher than that of Omega-6 in all the species. Omega-3 ranged from 9.15% in Sparus aurata to 25.7% in Boops boops versus 5.9%
omega-6 in Sparus aurata and 16.9% in Pagrus pagrus species. The highest ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 was 0.9 andwas obtained for
each of Sphyraena chrysotaenia and Pagrus pagrus whereas the lowest ratio was 0.5 for Boops boops.
Conclusion: These original results are consistent with the literature where mostly consumed fish are found to be rich in
monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The primary goal of our study was to contribute data related to the quality of fish
available for consumption on the Lebanese market. To our knowledge, no available data on fish analysis has yet been published in
Lebanon. Our study will thus be able to deliver facts to several ministries and governmental institutions in this country.

Biography :

Joane Matta has completed his PhD at the age of 27 years from McGill University and postdoctoral studies from the French Institute of Health and Medical Research. She
is the head of department of nutrition and dietetics at the Holy Spirit University in Lebanon. She has published several abstracts and papers in the field of nutrition and
diseases.