engleski

Microbiological indicators of fishery products contamination

Fresh and frozen seafood were collected from a market in Croatia in warm/cold seasons and analyzed for their microbiological quality. Although constant control of seafood is provided by veterinary inspection, the main purpose of this work was to investigate the presence and the level of aerobic mesophilic bacteria, aerobic psychrophilic bacteria, Salmonella spp., Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, sulphite-reducing clostridia, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus in seafood presented for direct human consumption and to evaluate their possible variations regarding seasons. Most published work regarding microbial contamination of seafood concentrates on limited spectra of bacteria, mostly vibrios and coliforms, while this study provided a broader insight into microbiological indicators. Quality of samples varied between species and within seasons regarding total counts of aerobic mesophilic and psychrophilic bacteria. Surprisingly, 66.6 % of fresh and frozen fish were unacceptable. The overall prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus was 5 %. Its recovery rate was higher in fresh/frozen shellfish in both seasons than in other specimens or other storage/season conditions. Fresh crustaceans sampled in winter demonstrated significantly higher aerobic mesophilic counts than frozen ones. Unacceptable Enterobacteriaceae levels were obtained in 40 % of the summer fresh fish samples. The results of this survey constitute an indicator of bacteriological contamination of a variety of seafood and could serve as a basis for future testing of seafood, and possibly as a template for developing a regional/Mediterranean testing scheme on the microbial contamination of seafood.

microbiological quality

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