USE OF PINEAPPLE EXTRACT AND PAPAYA LATEX IN THE PRODUCTION OF MUD CLAM (Polymesoda erosa) SAUCE

The traditional process of fish and shellfish fermentation can take up 6 months or a year and is usually time consuming. As a result, acceleration of fermentation process through protease enzymes based from extraction and production of less complicated and simplified procedures was attempted. Samples consisted of treatment I (no added enzyme), treatment II (0.6% papaya latex), and treatment III (0.6% pineapple extract) were allowed to ferment for 56 days under processing condition of room temperature. Samples were also visually and microbially inspected during the initial period, 14th day, 28th day, 42nd day, and at 56th day of the fermentation. Results showed that pineapple extract treated sample achieved the highest acceptability during the evaluation. Thus, papaya latex treated sample performed the highest proteolytic activity among the 3 samples which acquired a total crude protein of 8.88%, control sample with 8.83% crude protein content. Lastly, pineapple extract treated sample with 6.88% crude protein content. However, statistical analysis showed that there were no significant differences on the samples’ acceptability, proteolytic activity, microbial load, and sensory evaluation.