Safety, quality, and nutritional aspect of smoked barracuda fish [version 1; peer review: 1 not approved]

Background: Barracuda fish has a superior nutritional content, so it can be utilized as raw material for smoked fish products. The smoking method most commonly applied in Indonesia is traditional smoking. The traditional smoking process implemented commercially in Indonesia still uses simple equipment and sanitation is typically not monitored. Traditional smoking used at high temperatures can cause contamination of the products, such as with chemicals and microbes. Liquid smoke can be used to overcome these disadvantages. The study aimed to evaluate the nutritional, chemical, and microbial content of fresh and smoked barracuda processed using different smoking methods, namely traditional and liquid smoke. Methods: Barracuda fish were smoked using different smoking methods, traditional and liquid smoke. The traditional method used a simple smoking furnace, while the liquid smoke method was carried out by immersing the fish in a 5% liquid smoke solution. Then, the smoked barracuda were analyzed with various methods, such as proximate, heavy metals, histamine, benzo[a]pyrene, and total microbes (TPC). Data was analyzed using ANOVA at significance level (p < 0.05) followed by Duncan's test models using SPSS v.16. Results: Smoked fish treated with liquid smoke had a lower value of Arsenic heavy metal (As), at 0.73 mg/kg compared to the traditional method at 1.93 mg/kg; no histamine and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds were detected, namely benzo[a]pyrene; and liquid smoked fish can inhibit the growth of bacteria which can be seen from total bacteria value of 4.6 x 10 colonies/g Conclusions: Smoked fish processed using a liquid smoke was safer for consumption by the consumer.