Nutritional Qualities of Ooligan Grease: A Traditional Food Fat of British Columbia First Nations

✍ Scribed by Harriet V. Kuhnlein; Faustinus Yeboah; Maggie Sedgemore; Scotty Sedgemore; Hing Man Chan

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 223 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0889-1575
• DOI: 10.1006/jfca.1996.0004

✦ Synopsis

Food composition including moisture, total fat, cholesterol, vitamin A, calcium, iron, zinc, fatty acids, and four heavy metals were measured in the traditional fish fat, ooligan grease and in ooligan fish (Thaleichthys pacificus), collected from five First Nations communities (Nass River, Kitimaat, Bella Coola, Kingcome Inlet, and Knights Inlet) in the coastal area of British Columbia, Canada. There were few differences in nutrient composition of ooligan grease collected from different sites. Ooligan fish and extracted grease had mean fat contents of 18.0% and 98.0%, respectively. Cholesterol in ooligan grease was 197 { 76 mg/100 g. Ooligan grease was a rich source of vitamin A (2000 { 1200 RE/100 g wet weight) and omega-3 fatty acids (19 { 4.4 g/100 g), but had less vitamin A compared to raw fish (3200 RE/100 g). However, there was a 10-fold increase of omega-3 fatty acid in grease compared to ooligan fish fat which may be attributed to microbial conversion of other fatty acids to docosahexaenoic acid during ooligan grease preparation. Ooligan fish, usually consumed whole, are a good source of calcium (300 { 74 mg/100 g), iron (1.8 { 0.4 mg/100 g), and zinc (1.6 { 0.4 mg/100 g). Mean heavy metal concentrations in ooligan grease were 140 { 12 mg/100 g arsenic, 1.8 { 0.5 mg/100 g cadmium, 0.3 { 0.1 mg/100 g mercury, and 2.0 { 2.6 mg/100 g lead. These concentrations are below guidelines established by Health Canada and Agriculture Canada.