Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is an important economic freshwater fish species in Uganda. The intensive farming of Nile tilapia as well as the decline of wild caught tilapia has made farmed tilapia more available to consumers and mainstream seafood markets. This study aimed to evaluate the sensory characteristics, shelf life and chemical composition of farmed tilapia as compared to wild caught tilapia and to study if QIM schemes available in literature for tilapia, captured in particular, can as well be applicable to farmed tilapia. There was a significant difference (P=0.01) in fat content with 2.36±0.44g/100g of muscle for farmed tilapia and 1.14±0.42g/100g of muscle for wild caught tilapia. The difference in water content was significant for farmed and wild caught tilapia (p<0.05). The water content for farmed was 77.65±0.43% and 79.47±1.02% for wild caught tilapia. Higher Quality index QI score values were recorded in wild caught than in farmed tilapia throughout the storage time. A high correlation of R² =0.829 between QI and storage time for wild and R² =0.726 for farmed was recorded. On GDA, positive odour and flavour attributes were higher in farmed than wild caught. The negative odour and flavour attributes were more prominent in wild caught than farmed tilapia. The QI scores increased differently with storage time but showed a linear relationship for both groups. This indicates that the revised QIM scheme is applicable to both farmed and wild caught tilapia.
KEY WORDS: Tilapia, sensory evaluation, physical properties, and chemical composition.