Comparative Quality Assessments of Five Local Fresh Fish in Sulaimani

The aim of this study to assess the quality of five types of local, most heavily traded and widespread in Sulaymani, fresh fish including Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), Common carp (Cyprinus carpio), Bizz (Barbus esocinus) and Shabbout (Barbas grypus), different standard inspection tests were applied. The findings related to organoleptic, chemical, physical and microbiological test as well as heavy metals residues were similar for all five types of fishes, hence, species do not constitute an important factor in all parameter which were obtained. Silver carp only showed thiobarbituric acid (TBA) above the standard limits. The farmable fish types showed that wild fish caught characterized with freshness criteria higher than their farmed counterparts. All five types from licensed markets demonstrated to have freshness exceeded that fish sold from unlicensed markets. The best fresh fish type among the five types tested was Bizz, followed by Shabbout, Grass carp, Common carp while the lowest one was Silver carp.