Manufacturing Method for Low Salt Dried Fish by Utilizing Used Tea Leaves

Abstract

Salt restriction is important in the treatment of hypertension. Therefore, we investigated a method for producing dried fish utilizing used tea leaves that retain most of the components that exhibit antibacterial and antioxidant effects. When treated with a mixture of used tea leaf extract and salt, water content, salt concentration and the number of bacteria were lower than that found for the single substance solution. A synergistic effect was particularly observed for bacterial count reductions when using a 2% salt and used tea leaf mixture. Sensory evaluation showed there was a highly positive evaluation of the dried fish produced with a mixture of 2% salt and used tea leaf extract as compared to commercially available dried fish. Current results suggest that application of used tea leaves during dried fish production can reduce salt while retaining the antibacterial effect, with utilization of used tea leaves thereby expected to reduce food waste.