PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND LABELING EVALUATION OF CANNED SARDINES

Canned sardines stand out for their good acceptance and lower commercial value compared to other fish products. It is considered a good source of highly unsaturated fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA), but its composition can vary according to maturation stage, sex, and size. Canned food labels must contain essential information about the product, ensuring the consumer is easy to identify nutrients. Thus, our objective was to evaluate the freshness, proximal composition, fatty acid profile, and label of three commercial brands of canned sardines. The brands were named “A”, “B”, and “C” and were evaluated for freshness (lipid oxidation, pH, N-BVT); proximal composition, fatty acid profile, and labeling. We compared the labeling results with the Brazilian legal norms through Resolution nº 360 (ANVISA) and DIPOA (Ministry of Agriculture). Lipid oxidation ranged from 1.15±0.11b to 2.74±0.42a mg MDA 100g-1. The pH ranged from 6.08±0.007a (brand C) to 6.33±0.05b (brand A); the values of N-BVT ranged between 4.55±1.14a (brand A) and 5.51±0.027a (brand C) mg N 100-1, thus indicating that in all brands the fish were in conditions to be processed and that canning can be an excellent alternative to conserve them. Humidity content was higher for brand “A” (63.5±2.51b%) and lower for “C” (58.34±2.22a%); ash content ranged from 3.04±0.5a to 3.58± 0.72a% and proteins from 16.94±0.58a to 19.21±0.57a%.
The lipid content was higher in brand “C” (17.53±2.32b%) and lower in brand “A” (13.21±0.75a%), and there may be interference of the topping liquid in the composition of sardines. EPA (A: 11.40±0.30a; B: 11.27±0.20a; C: 8.53±0.85b) and DHA (A: 4.67±1.80a; B: 3.54 ±0.48a; C: 4.75±1.63a) were detected in all brands, indicating that sardines are a source of these fatty acids. All brands had labels by legal standards, but the nutritional composition and fatty acid profile were not standardized.