Effects of selected washing treatments and drying temperatures on biochemical and microbiological quality of dagaa (Rastrineobola argentea).

Dagaa (Rastrineobola argentea) is one of the most important fish foods for the lowincome households in the Nyanza Province, Kenya. However, the off-flavour and offodour that results from the traditional sun-drying process of sun-dried dagaa is a major disincentive to the use of the fish for human consumption, hence leading to utilization in animal feed. Chemical analyses for pH, Thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS), Total volatile bases-nitrogen (TVBN) and aerobic bacterial counts were carried out on dagaa sampled from various process steps within the openfield sun-drying and market conditions. Dagaa was also oven-dried at 30oC, 40oC and 50oC after washing with selected solutions namely salted (3% sodium chloride), chlorinated solutions (100ppm) and potable tap water (control). Results indicated that TBARS values increased significantly (