Microbiological quality of marketed fresh and frozen seafood caught off the Adriatic coast of Croatia

N. Topic Popovic, A. Benussi Skukan, P. Dzidara, R. Coz-Rakovac, I. Strunjak-Perovic, L. Kozacinski, M. Jadan and D. Brlek-Gorski
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N. Topic Popovic: Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Laboratory for Ichtyopathology-Biological Materials, Zagreb, Croatia
A. Benussi Skukan: Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
P. Dzidara: Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
R. Coz-Rakovac: Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Laboratory for Ichtyopathology-Biological Materials, Zagreb, Croatia
I. Strunjak-Perovic: Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Laboratory for Ichtyopathology-Biological Materials, Zagreb, Croatia
L. Kozacinski: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
M. Jadan: Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Laboratory for Ichtyopathology-Biological Materials, Zagreb, Croatia
D. Brlek-Gorski: Croatian National Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia

Veterinární medicína, 2010, vol. 55, issue 5, 233-241

Abstract: Fresh and frozen seafood products (fish, shellfish, crustaceans, molluscs) in wide use in Croatia and typical of the Mediterranean diet, were examined for the presence of microbiological contamination through the winter and summer seasons. Total bacterial counts of aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AB), aerobic psychrophilic bacteria (AP), Salmonella spp., Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, sulphite-reducing clostridia (SRC), Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus were measured. The microbiological quality of individual samples varied widely between animal species and also between winter/summer seasons regarding total counts of aerobic mesophilic and psychrophilic bacteria. The poorest quality was for (both summer and winter) fish samples, where 66.6 % of fresh and frozen fish were found unacceptable by Croatian standards. 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 fresh fish summer samples. The results of this survey constitute an indicator of bacteriological contamination of a variety of seafood. The findings 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 in order to establish data with comparative epidemiological and statistical values.

Keywords: enterobacteria; vibrios; microbiological contamination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlvet:v:55:y:2010:i:5:id:2997-vetmed

DOI: 10.17221/2997-VETMED

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