Abstract
This study was conducted to measure temporal changes of fatty acids in fish (Maiwashi, sardine family) sauce during fermentation.
In the fish mixture, the significant differences of the total amount of fatty acids in both the control and the linoleic acid added samples were not observed during fermentation. The carbon number 22:6 (DHA) and 20:5 (EPA) decreased during fermentation process while carbon number 16:0 increased. The tendency of the fatty acid compositions of the linoleic acid added sample and the control sample were similar except for the linoleic acid, which significantly degraded in the linoleic acid added sample. The added linoleic acid was in a free form, so it was easy to oxidize and oxidation proceeded as fermentation progress.
In the fish sauce, the total fatty acid was significantly lower than in fish mixture suggesting that the fatty acids might still remain in the fish body during fermentation in both samples. After 12 months fermentation, the composition of other fatty acids in the linoleic acid added sample showed almost the same tendency as the control sample.
From these results, it was clear that the carbon number of some of the long chain fatty acids were cut shorter during fermentation. Linoleic acid did not affect major changes in the composition of fatty acid. This would suggest that addition of linoleic acid could have converted to short chain fatty acids since the composition of fatty acids after 12 months tended to be similar with the control.
