A simple and economic process for canning of oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps) in its own juice having very good organoleptic characteristics has been developed. The process consists in dipping eviscerated, scaled and cleaned fish in brine containing potash alum and citric acid, packing in cans, exhausting and seaming without addition of any filling medium and heat

processing

Balachandran, K.K.

Madhavan, P.

Prabhu, P.V.

Unnikrishnan Nair, T.S.

Aquatic Commons

F l (SARD!NELlA LONG!CEPS) 
T. S. UNNIKRISHNAN NAIR, P. MADHAVAN, 
K.K.BALACHANDRAN & P.V. PRABHU 
Central Institute of Fisheries Techno.logy, Cochin-682011. 
A simple and economic process for canning of oil sardine 
( Sardinella longiceps) in its own juice having very good orga-
noleptic characteristics has been developed. The process consists 
in dipping eviscerated, scaled and cleaned fish in brine con-
taining potash alum and citric acid, packing in cans, exhausting 
and seaming without addition of any filling medium and heat 
processing. 
INTRODUCTION 
Commercial canning of oil sardine is 
of relatively recent origin in India even 
though processes have been evolved for 
canning this fish in oil. (Anon, 1964; 
Madhavan, Balachandran and Choudhuri, 
1970; Sen and Revankar, 1971) and quality 
specifications laid down by Indian Standards 
Institution (1963). 
Although sardine caught in India is 
believed to be the cheapest in the world 
we have so far failed in establishing world 
market for canned sardine' especially when 
there exists a very large market for this 
commodity particularly in the U. S. A., 
France etc. Sardine canned at present in 
India is almost entirely used by Defence 
forces with a very small portion being 
sold in the internal market. 
Table I provides an account of canned 
sardine imported by overseas countries. 
151 
TABLE I 
IMPORT OF CANNED SARDINE 
BY OVERSEAS COUNTRIES 
(Year Book ·:::>f Fishery Statistics, Fishery 
Commodities, FAO, 1968 to 1970) 
Country Import in tons 
1968 1969 1970 
U.S.A. 14,700 22,500 18,500 
France 14,300 13,900 14,600 
Italy 1,100 3,300 1,200 
West Germany 7,400 9,200 6,600 
U.K. 20,800 24,800 *8,800 
Australia 4,800 5,100 4,700 
*This figure does not include import 
from South Africa. 
Most of these countries import this to 
fill the gap between the domestic production 
and the internal demand. 
One of the major reasons why India 
Fish. Techno!. 
Unnilhisfi.nan Nair, Madfi.avan, Balacfiandran & PraiJfiu: Canning of oil sardine 
(sardinella longiceps)- natural pactZ. 
TABLE II 
DETAIL OF THE DIP TREATMENTS 
Concentration of Concentrat-ion of Concentration of Period of dip treatments 
brine, wjv Potash alum, w jv citric acid, w jv 
15% 0.0% 
15 o;.) 0.5% 
15% 1.0% 
15% 2.0% 
20% 1.0% 
could not compete in the world market 
is high cost of production resulting from 
the high cost of tin plate imported for 
making the cans and secondly the high 
cost of oil used as packing medium. A 
great deal of work has been carried out 
at the Central Institute of Fisheries Tech-
nology with a view to reducing the cost of 
production by suitably modifying the pa-
cking medium and simplifying the techno-
logy involved, the most important outcome 
of which is development of a method of 
canning sardine in its own juice, the natural 
pack, which saves the cost of oil and a 
lot of labour. The process is discussed in 
this paper. 
MATERIALS AND METHODS. 
Oil sardine landed by country fishing 
crafts operated off Cochin were utilized 
for the study. The landed fish, while 
still in rigor, was transported in ice to the 
laboratory and used for experiments with-
out further delay. Fish after dressing, 
scaling etc. were thoroughly washed in 
potable w:1ter till free of dirt, blood etc. 
and then dipped in brine of different 
concentrations containing different conce-
ntrations of potassium aluminium sulphate 
(potash alum) and citric acid, drained well, 
packed in quarter dingly cans m quan-
VoL XI No. 2 1974 
0.0% 15 mts. 20 mts. 25 mts. 
0.5% 
" " " 
1.0% 
" 
, 
" 
2.0% 
" " " 
LO% 
" " " 
tities sufficient to give a net weight of 
106 g., exhausted in steam in an exhaust 
box, seamed and heat processed in retort. 
Refined salt, food grade potash alum 
and citric acid were used for the expe-
riments. 
Moisture, total nitrogen (TN) and fat 
were estimated according to the A.O.A.C. 
(1955) method, non protein nitrogen (NPN) 
by the method of Bate Smith, Macara 
and sharp (1944) and a-amino nitrogen by 
the method of Pope and Stevens (1939), 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
Fish used in ali experiments were 
of uniform quality as regards size and 
chemical composition, the average figures 
being: 
Lengch 
Average weight 
,, 
" 
" 
" 
moisture 
Fat 
TN 
NPN 
a- amino nitrogen 
]2-14 em. 
35 g. 
68% 
8.16% 
3.028/100 g. 
339.9 mg/100 g. 
52.52 mg./100 g. 
Optimum concentrations of brine, 
citric acid and potash alum and the dipping 
152 
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TABLE III 
ORGANOLEPTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRODUCTS 
Treating solultion 
15% brine alone 
15% brine containing 0.5% each 
of potash alum and citric acid 
15% brine containing 1% each of 
potash alum and citric acid 
15% brine containing 2% each of 
potash alum and citric acid 
20% brine containing 1% each of 
potash alum and citric acid 
Treatment time 
15 mts. 
20 " 
25 ,, 
15 mts. 
20 " 
25 , 
15 mts, 
20 " 
25 " 
15 mts. 
20 , 
25 , 
15 mts. 
20 , 
25 " 
Taste 
Salt slightly 
less 
Salt sufficient 
Salt more 
Salt slightly 
less 
Salt sufficient 
Salt more 
Salt slightly 
less 
Salt sufficient, 
no bitter taste 
Salt more, slight 
bitter taste. 
Salt slightly less, 
bitter taste 
Salt sufficient, 
bitter taste more 
Salt more, bitter 
taste still more 
Salt sufficient 
Salt slightly excess 
Salt more, slight 
bitter taste 
OBTAINED APTER DIFFERENT TREATMENTS 
Texture Flavour Nature of juice 
Very soft and Good Very turbid and 
disintegrated discoloured 
" 
, 9, 
" 
, 
" 
soft and Good Turbid 
disintegrated 
,, 
" 
, 
" " 
, 
Firm Satisfactory Slightly turbid 
, 
" 
Less turbid 
" 
, Less turbid 
Firm Satisfactory Clear 
" " " 
, , 
" 
Firm Satisfactory Slightly turbid 
, 
" 
Clear 
, 
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Unnilhisli.nan Nair, Madli.aoan, 'Balacli.andran & Pra5tiu: Canning of oil sardine 
(sardinella longiceps) -natural pack 
time were determined by dipping the 
fish in solutions of the mixtures of 
the above in varying proportions, for 
varying periods. The details are given in 
Table II. 
Cans prepared out of sardine have 
to be heat processed to such an extent. 
that the bone-s also become soft. Expe-
riment conducted to determine the heat 
processing time and steam pressure required 
showed that in order to provide the 
desirable characteristics as regards the 
texture, particularly the softness of bone 
to the required level, a period of 4 5 
minitues heat processing at 1 kg.fsq. em. 
(120°C) steam is optimum. Hence the 
cans prepared with material treated as 
described in Table II were heat processed 
for 45 minutes under 1 kg.fsq. em. (120°C) 
steam. Cans prepared as above were tested 
for their organoleptic properties and the 
results are tabulated in Table III. 
When sardine is canned after treat-
ment with brine alone~ the self juice 
formed inside the can becomes turbid 
and discoloured. Besides, on sufficient 
heat processing to render the bones soft th-:: 
flesh becomes very soft and disintegrated. 
Alum helps in providing the flesh a firm 
texture while leaving the self juice clear 
owing perhaps to its sedimentation action 
due to which the colloidal and dispersed 
solid pctrticles (in the self juice) get sedi-
mented during the process of brining itself 
and thus do not pass into the cans. 
However, treatment Wi[h alum alone along 
with brine imparts a slight bitter taste to 
the fish. In order to overcome this a 
mixture of alum and citric acid is used. 
Citric acid, by lowering the pH of the 
fish muscle, imparts a slight firmness to 
the flesh; and a combination of citric 
acid and alum imparts a most desireble 
VoL XI No. 2 1974 
texture to the flesh with good taste and 
appearance. 
It has been observed that two different 
treatments viz. (i) with 15% brine con-
taining l% each of alum and citric acid 
for 20 minutes and (ii) with 20% brine 
containing 1% each of alum and citric 
acid for 15 minutes yield products of 
equally good and similar characteristics. 
However, for sardine with very high fat 
content the former treatment has been 
found to be better as the chances for 
salt induced rancidity of the body fat 
can. be minimised. Semi-commercial trials 
for manufacture of sardine cans have yielded 
products of consistently good quality. 
Natural pack method effects a greater 
economy in the production, side by side 
yielding better product retaining the natural 
taste of sardine. Costs of production of 
sardine for natural pack and conventio-
nal oil pack (refined ground mit oil) in 
quarter dingly cans with a net weight of 
J 06 g. are Rs. 0.78 and Rs. 1.03 respe-
ctively, for a can. 
In the conventional oil pack method, 
sardine after brining is subjected to 
precooking in steam to remove as much 
water as possible to prevent the 'cook-
drip' in the oil. This step is altogether 
avoided in the present method thereby 
saving labour, steam and time. Further, 
in the conventional method, oil (refined 
ground nut, olive or soy) is used as the 
packing medium which is avoided in the 
natural pack method. Thus, there occures 
saving under two important heads and 
hence the economy of the method. 
Analysis of the finished products from 
the two different sets of experiments, the 
end projucts of which were found to be 
154 
Unni~risftnan Nair, Madftavan, 'Balacftandran & 'Praliftu: Canning of oil sardine 
(sardinella longiceps) -natural pact?. 
TABLE IV 
CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FINISHED PRODUCTS 
FROM TWO DIFFERENT TREATMENTS 
Details of treatment Moisture Salt Fat Protein NPN a::-amino N 
(T.N.x6.25) 
15% brine containing 1% 
each of potash alum 62.5% 3.15% 7.575% 24.375% 0.2450% 0.0260% 
and citric acid for 
20 minutes 
20% brine containing 1% 
each of potash alum 61.25% 3.35% 7.98% 24.53% 0.2195% 0.0250% 
and citric acid for 
15 minutes 
identical with respect to quality, are given 
in Table IV. 
SUMMARY 
A process for canning oil sardine in 
its own JUICe, natural pack, is described. 
Method consists in dipping the gutted,scaled 
and cleaned fish in 15% brine containing 
1% each of alum and citric acid for 20 
minutes or alternately in 20% brine con-
taining 1% each of alum and citric acid 
for 15 minutes, then packing directly in 
cans, exhausting and seaming without 
addition of any filling medium and heat 
processing for 45 minutes under 1 kg./sq. 
em. steam (120°C). Precooking of the 
brined material in conventional oil packs 
and the packing medium, :the costly oil, 
are avoided and hence the econ0my of the 
process. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
The authors wish to express their 
155 
thanks to late Dr. V. K. Pillai, former 
Director of the Institute, and to Shd 
M. R. Nair, Fishery Scientist for helpful 
suggestions during the course of the work. 
REFERENCES 
A. 0. A. C. 1955. Methods of analysis: 
Association of Official Agricultural 
Chemists, Washington. 
Bate Smith, E. C., R. Macara and J. G. 
Sharp. 1944. J. Soc. Chem. Ind., 
63:71. 
Indian Standard Specification for sardines 
canned in oil. 1963. I.S : 2421. 
Madhavan, P., K. K. Balachandran and 
D. R. Choudhuri. 1970. Fish. Technol, 
7., 1 : 67. 
Pope, C. G. and M. F. Stevans. 1939. 
Biochem. J., 331 : 1070. 
Sen, D. P. and G. D. Revankar. 1971, 
Seafood Export Journal., 3, 2:13. 
Fish. Techno!. 


Canning of oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps): natural pack

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Canning of oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps): natural pack

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