Marketability comparison of Nile and Red Hybrid Tilapia Fillets Using CLT Method in Tehran, Guilan and Mazandaran Provinces (Iran)

The objective of this study was to investigate themarketability of the Nile andred hybrid tilapia fillets which were reared at the Inland Saltwater Fish Research Center (Yazd, Iran). The fish samples were transferred to the National Fish Processing Research Center (Anzali, Guilan, Iran) andfish filleting was done manually. A questionnaire was designed based on the Central Location Test CLT to assess consumer’s attitudes. A 9-point hedonic scale (1 = extremely bad, 9 = extremely good) was applied for consumer survey. Fish loins papered from each fillet were deep fired in frying oil and presented to the 276 consumers in Tehran, Mazandaran and Guilan provinces. Proximate compositions of the samples were also determined. Results indicated that the tilapia fillets contained 18.8-19.3% protein, 1.5-1.6% fat, 77-78% moisture and 1.8- 1.9% ash. The acceptance results revealed no significant differences between both tilapia species in all three provinces. However, significant differences were found among the three provinces for the acceptance of the Nile and red tilapia fillets.