ABSTRACT
Sardine is a sea food widely consumed in Mexico due to it's abundance and very low price. Its content in vitamins, minerals and chemical composition were evaluated in its canned presentation in tomato sauce. Samples proceeded from 3 fishery areas of the Mexican Pacific: (L1) Baja California Sur, (L2) Sonora and (L3) Sinaloa. The proximal chemical analysis was carried out by the AOAC methods; mineral content (Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb) was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and vitamins A, B1, B2 and niacin were quantified by HPLC. Results showed a high moisture content from 69 to 82, ether extract ranged between 7.8 (L2) and 10.2 (L3) and crude protein content between 10.6 (L3) and 14.6 (L1). Vitamin A (IU/100 g) was similar for all samples: L1 (63-66); thiamin (mg/100 g) was high in L1 (0.13) and low in L3 (0.09); riboflavin was high in L1 (0.15) and showed values of 0.13 for both L2 and L3; niacin content was high in all samples: L1 (2.24), L2 (1.48) and L3 (1.75). Minerals were abundant (mg/100 g) in Na, K, and P; L1 showed a great variation for Na (363-636) compared with L2 and L3 (250); K was very variable among the samples: L1 (597), L2 (100) and L3 (57). Phosphorous and magnesium had small variations: P (229, 243 and 212) and Mg (28, 23 and 23) for L1, L2 and L3. Iron was more abundant in L1 (5.5) and L3 (4.3); Zn was higher in L2 (3.4) and similar in L1 (2.5) and L3 (2.2). Copper showed a great variation in L2 (0.21-0.48) but the averages were similar (0.37, 0.35, 0.33, for L1, L2 and L3 respectively). Finally, heavy metal content was lower than 0.002 mg/100 g. In conclusion, there are some variation in Ca, Na, K, thiamin and niacin content in canned sardine with tomato sauce, depending upon the fishing area.