Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Mahyaveh is a traditional Iranian fish sauce produced by fermentation and hydrolysis. The main production of Mahyaveh has been traditionally and scientific research and industrial measures has not been done on it with the aim to achieve a production with less microbial load. Therefore, the aim of this research was to study the type of fish, salt concentration and fermentation time on the bacterial population of Iranian fish sauce (Mahyaveh). MATERIALS AND METHODS: For this purpose, the effects of fish type (tuna, anchovy and sardine), salt concentration (15%, 25% and 35%) and fermentation time (30, 75 and 120 days) on the total microbial count, Micrococcus, Enterobacteriaceae and Bacillus were investigated. 15 treatments were designed according to the Box-Behnken Response Surface Methodology. RESULTS: Simultaneous optimization to achieve the minimum total microbial count, Micrococcus, Enterobacteriaceae and Bacillus in the Mahyaveh sauce was obtained with 99.49% desirability at the time of 103.63 days of fermentation with the third type of fish (Sardine) and at a salt concentration of 29.38%. CONCLUSION: By optimizing the conditions of producing Mahyaveh sauce, fish sauce can be produced with the least amount of microbial load with more health safety.