Freshwater Fish Burgers Made from Four Different Fish Species as a Valuable Strategy Appreciated by Consumers for Introducing EPA and DHA into a Human Diet

ABSTRACT

The nutritional profile and the consumer preference of fish burgers made from carp, goldfish, perch, and tench were investigated. Perch and goldfish burgers, which have the highest proportion of eicosapentaenoic acid (6.63% and 4.90%, respectively) and docosahexaenoic acid (20.28% and 11.99%, respectively), showed lower absolute amounts of these fatty acids (17.03 and 10.10 mg/100 g food, respectively) than tench and carp (31.16 and 49.63 mg/100 g food, respectively). The consumer evaluation established that differences in the perception of the fish burgers exist. The overall liking and taste were the main attributes that influenced both consumer’s acceptance and purchase intent.

KEYWORDS:

• Tench
• perch
• carp
• goldfish
• n-3 fatty acids
• consumer evaluation

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank F. Canalicchio for help in the laboratory, and the authors would like to pass on their sincere gratitude to the Fisheries Consortium of the Lake Trasimeno for providing technical support and advice in formulating experimental fish burger.

Funding

Support for this research was provided by Regione Umbria, PSR, Mis.1.2.4 (VASPI Project -SIAN n.94751362214).