Microbiological quality assessment of fish origin food along the production chain in upper Blue Nile watershed, Ethiopia

Abstract

Pathogenic microorganisms can grow accidentally on fish origin human food and can be a cause of human food‐borne illness. The purpose of this study was to estimate the occurrence and microbial load pattern of Escherichia coli , Salmonella , Staphylococcus aureus , and Shigella spp. along the fish origin food value chain. A total of 396 fish samples were collected by a systematic random sampling technique of cooked and raw in the three species of fish. Fish muscles were tested using selective media, followed by conventional biochemical tests. The bacterial load was assessed using a standard plate count method. Whereas the fungal load were measured by cultured in a Sabouraud's dextrose agar (SDA) medium. The overall prevalence was Escherichia coli 84 (21.21%), Salmonella 27 (6.82%), Staphylococcus aureus 19 (4.80%), and Shigella spp. 17 (4.29%). The average mean total coliform count was observed 1.2 × 10 2 cfu/g and 5.10 × 10 4 cfu/g in cooked and raw fish samples, respectively. Whereas total viable count mean of 8.05 × 10 4 cfu/g and 11.5 × 10 4 cfu/g in cooked and raw fish, respectively. The Fungal load counts under the range 5.6 × 10 1 cfu/g to 1.09 × 10 3 cfu/g were observed. The study has revealed that fish food in the study area has the possibility of microbial public health risk. Hence, it could be wise to improve the knowledge of key actors from harvesting to consumption to enhance the meals protection practices and high‐quality standards of fish foods.

Cross-sectional analysis of risk factors associated with Mugil cephalus in retail fish markets concerning methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Aeromonas hydrophila

“…These findings were exceptional, as evidenced by the presence of 2%-60% S. aureus in Iranian fish (Vaiyapuri et al, 2019) and 24.47% in Indian fish (Bujjamma and Padmavathi, 2015). The results of this study were more conclusive than the values of 4.80% in Ethiopia (Mitiku et al, 2022) and 16% in Iran (Arfatahery et al, 2016) but were less significant than those found in Egypt (31.8%; Mohammed et al, 2015), in Kerala (36.5%; Murugadas et al, 2016), and in Maiduguri (31.14%;Mohammed et al, 2020). The highest incidence of S. aureus isolates were found in knives (46.66%) and fish handlers (37.5%), according to our findings.…”

Bacterial Quality and Molecular Detection of Food Poisoning Virulence Genes Isolated from Nasser Lake Fish, Aswan, Egypt

“…This environment produces undesirable metabolites, which impart unpleasant flavours and aromas to the food [ 4 ]. Foodborne diseases are recognized to occur regularly and are related to low-income countries, probably due to improper food handling and hygiene, lack of food safety laws and weak implementation systems, lack of economic assets to procure safety tools, and lack of education and training for different food handlers [ 5 ]. Foodborne pathogens are those microorganisms which cause human diseases via virulence machinery, even sometimes at their low infectious dose [ 6 ].…”

“…Consequently, the conventional culture technique has proven inadequate in identifying the proliferating multitude of bacterial species. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most common molecular techniques, and it is widely used to detect fish pathogenic bacteria [ 5 ] rapidly. Nevertheless, despite numerous studies investigating various fish species sourced from aquacultures in Egypt, there needs to be more information concerning the safety and quality of freshwater fish from sources such as Nasser Lake, a critical source for Egypt's national fisheries.…”