Chemical Composition and Microflora of Fish Sauce “Patis”

Abstract

The chemical and microbiological analyses of patis (fish sauce) and bagoong (fish paste) produced in the Philippines were carried out. The composition of patis was as fallows: pH 5.1, ash 22.5%, water content 66.2%, NaCl 29.1%, total nitrogen 1550mg/100ml, volatile basic nitrogen 151mg/100ml, trimethylamine 14.9mg-_N/100ml, hydrogen sulfide 130ng/ml, and viable cell count 4.5×10³ cells/ml. The composition of bagoong was as follows: pH 5.2, ash 22.8%, water content 61.6%, NaCl 30.2%, total nitrogen 1450mg/100ml (supernatant liquid) and 2290mg/100ml (fish paste), volatile basic nitrogen 175mg/100ml, trimethylamine 15.2mg-_N/100ml, hydrogen sulfide 11.5ng/ml, and viable cell count 6.5×10³ cells/ml. The classification of bacteria at the genus level was performed on 40 strains isolated from bagoong. The dominant flora were Bacillus, Micrococcus and Moraxella, some of which can grow well on the medium containg more than 20% NaCl.