was screened from different seafood contact surfaces in five sampling sites of fishing harbour, fish landing centers, seafood processing plants, fish market, and fish curing yards of Tuticorin Coast of India. 115 swab samples were collected and tested for the occurrence of by conventional and molecular methods. Overall, 5.22% of swab samples collected were positive for. The fishing harbour had high incidence (10.3%) of followed by fish landing centers (5.9%), and seafood processing plants (4.1%). Boat deck, fish transport tricycle were the two seafood contact surfaces in fishing harbour, which had the occurrence of. The swab samples from fish market and fish curing yards were negative for . All the isolated colonies of were confirmed by PCR assay targeting virulent gene. The DNA of all the isolates yielded a product of 174 bp on PCR amplification in comparison with Type culture (MTCC 1143). The results clearly indicated the occurrence of in seafood contact surfaces along the Tuticorin Coast of India.

In this study, the effect of commercial additives viz. cafodos and altesa employed to treat Indian octopus (Cistopus indicus) was examined during chilled and frozen storage. Shelf lives of treated and untreated octopus in ice were 6 and 8 days, respectively in ice. Treated and untreated frozen octopus had a shelf life of 40 days. Autolytic and microbiological changes were not controlled by the additives, as evidenced through rapid reduction in non-protein nitrogen (NPN) and α-amino nitrogen (α-AN) compounds; as well as accumulation of water soluble ammoniacal nitrogen and total volatile base- nitrogen (TVB-N) compounds. Loss of texture and colour were the major quality defects noticed in treated octopus as a result of enhanced protein solubility. Therefore, the additives approved for use in octopus neither enhanced the shelf life nor improved the sensory quality.