A Comparative Assessment of Nutritional and Microbial Quality between Value Added Fish Burgers and Traditional Meat Based Fast Foods

Background: Fast foods, often known as ready-to-eat foods, are foods that are simple to prepare and may be easily consumed or taken away. Fast food consumption is a growing trend among people worldwide, including Bangladesh. Changes in lifestyle and food habits have been bringing about this evolving shift from traditional foods. Most of them are prepared from poultry and beef meat. These contain high fat content, salts, and sugars that lead to serious health problems. Aim: The objective of this study is to prepare the value-added fish products such as fish burger using Thai pangas, (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) as raw materials for comparing with available fast food and to evaluate their proximate composition and bacterial load. Methodology: Fresh Thai Pangas fish were collected from the Tilagor and Majortila Bazar of Sylhet sadar. Fish burgers were made using minced fish, spices, salt, and other ingredients. The proximate composition (moisture, ash, protein, fat) of the fish burgers was determined according to AOAC (1990) guidelines. The microbial analysis comprised total plate count (TPC), total coliforms, E. coli, and Salmonella counts via the use of selective media (PCA, EMB, SS agar). The fish, chicken and beef burgers were sampled in triplicate per time point at 24-hour intervals up to 48 hours, and serial dilutions were plated for enumeration of bacteria. Results: The analysis of the proximate composition revealed that crude protein content was significantly (P<0.05) higher in fish burgers than other two. The findings from microbial analysis revealed that Bacterial growth in the fish burger, chicken burger, and beef burger kept at room temperature quickly amplified with the increase of storage time. In this case, bacterial development rate was slower and during the 24-hour storage time, a minor change was observed in TPC after that bacterial growth increased rapidly and non-significantly (P>0.05) in the fish, chicken and beef burger. Furthermore, the Total Coliform (TC) of chicken burger were 1100 /100 g, and the TC of fish burger and beef burger were 43/100 g and 210/100 g, respectively. Conclusion: This study offers new opportunities to replace chicken and beef fast foods with low-cost value-added fish products (Fish burger). The findings of this study indicate that value-added fish products can be nutritious and safer options for fast food in Bangladesh.