60 MARCH 2022 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WA S .ORG salting. Of the five organisms farmed in aquaculture in the Philippines (Table 2), only groupers and siganids are salted and dried (Guevara and Camu 1988). Mussels, white shrimp and seaweed have thinner layers of flesh compared to groupers and siganids; hence, these organisms are only dried. Their salt uptake is faster than the latter, making the addition of salt inadvisable (IARC 1993). Their smaller surface area also makes drying faster, eliminating the need for salt to draw out moisture (IARC 1993, Turan and Erkoyuncu 2012). After fish are harvested, quality immediately deteriorates, requiring fishers to preserve fish in the most convenient way – through salting and sun-drying (Gabriel and Alano-Budiao 2015, Macabutas et al. 2018). This type of fish processing has become one of the most prevalent methods of fish preservation as it is one of the easiest and most accessible to the public. Moreover, drying and salting of fish decreases the water activity of the product and extends its shelf-life (Rahman 2009, Arvanitoyannis et al. 2012). Reducing water activity prevents the proliferation of microorganisms as bound water is not Dried, Salted Fish in the Philippines Dried, salted fish is a common food item in the Filipino diet. The total mean per capita fish consumption is around 38 kg/yr and 4 kg/yr of this allotted to dried fish consumption (BFAR 2015). Around 30 percent of the 4,312,090 t of fish are processed into different products, including dried, salted fish (Guevara and Camu 1986, BFAR 2017). Fish that are dried and salted are derived fromwild capture fisheries and aquaculture. There are 35 species of marine organisms used for various fishery products, 26 of which are dried and salted forms (Guevara and Camu 1988). Dried, salted fish sold in fishing communities are often classified as wild-caught fish captured through municipal and commercial fisheries. Municipal fisheries are further categorized into marine and inland. Commonly found dried, salted fishery products in the Philippine market use Acetes sp., anchovy, mackerel, round scad, sardine, siganid, slipmouth and squid (Table 1). Farmed aquatic organisms are also preserved by drying and/or Dried, Salted Fish Products in the Philippines Abigail Ann Alano Ching, Myrna Benita Z. Luna and Janice Alano Ragaza TABLE 1. Municipal and commercial fisheries production in the Philippines in 2018 (adapted from PSA 2019). Or gan i sm Pr oduc t i on f r om mun i c i pa l f i she r i e s ( t ) Pr oduc t i on f r om c omme r c i a l f i she r i e s ( t ) MARINE INLAND Acetes sp. 8,966 - 441 Anchovy 34,221 - 14,503 Bali sardinella 65,299 - - Cavalla 20,227 - 41,369 Fimbriated sardine 42,446 - 3,432 Flying fish 12,814 - 45,131 Freshwater goby - 2,892 - Freshwater sardine - 934 - Freshwater shrimp - 3,374 - Grouper 19,809 - 1,298 Indian mackerel 35,703 - 20,071 Indo-pacific mackerel 20,538 - 10,615 Sea mullet 12,432 - 317 Mullet sp. - 1,414 - Lobed river mullet - 50 - Round herring 4,199 - 698 Round scad 50,952 - 120,365 Siganid 22,180 - 1,448 Silver perch - 1,408 - Snapper 12,833 - 1,532 Slipmouth 37,332 - 10,618 Squid 36,089 - 11,238 Starry goby - 369 -
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