Yield and proximate composition of farm – raised African freshwater catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fillet

Abstract

The study examined the yield of skinned fillets and the proximate composition of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) with the view of developing a sustainable turnkey processing method for farmed catfish fillet. Twenty-six (26) freshly prepared live catfish weighing 25kg were harvested and transported to NIOMR. The morphological characterization of the fish was done before processing. The processing of the fish was done manually. The proximate analysis of the skinned fillet was carried out. The proximate composition of catfish fillet indicated high percent moisture, high protein, and low-fat product. The yield of the skinned fillet was 34% of the whole catfish, indicating 66% by-products, of which 61.8% can be converted to fishmeal and 4.2% to mince. The gut and skin made up 10.4% while the slime and drip loss made up 3.2% and 4.2% of the whole catfish respectively. Raw catfish, at the purchase price of ₦8,750.00 (US 58.33 dollars) and only 34% of fillet as the primary product, the cost of the skinless fillet without any fixed or variable costs is ₦25,735.29 (US 171.57 dollars), indicating an increase of 194.12% in the cost price of the whole fish. Development of a business plan and simple financial analysis for catfish fillet processing is encouraged.