Microbiological quality of farmed grass carp, bighead carp, Siberian sturgeon, and wels catfish from Eastern Poland

Abstract

IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to determine the microbiological quality of food fish and its safety for consumers.Material and MethodsThe study included 24 fish representing grass carp, bighead carp, Siberian sturgeon, and wels catfish. Specimens were collected in winter. Aerobic bacteria, psychrophilic, Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus spp., and E. coli counts were made, and the presence of Salmonella spp., L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, and other coagulase-positive staphylococci was investigated.ResultsThe microbiological analysis showed a similar level of aerobic, psychrophilic, and Staphylococcus spp. contamination of the four fish species. The Enterobacteriaceae count was higher in the muscles of grass carp and bighead carp than S. sturgeon and wels catfish. No pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella spp., E. coli, L. monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, or other coagulase positive staphylococci were found in samples of the examined fish species.ConclusionThe fresh fish examined in this study were of good microbiological quality and there was no health risk for consumers.

The use of the so‐called ‘tubs’ for transporting and storing fresh fishery products

“…In South‐East Asian countries and in China, Salmonella prevalence in marketed products ranges from 4.6% to 75% in shrimps, and from 3.5% to 36.6% for fish (Kamalika et al., ; Kumar et al., ; Minami et al., ; Banerjee et al., ; Woodring et al., ; Budiati et al., ; Yang et al., ; Zhang et al., 2015a; Nguyen et al., ; Sing et al., ; Li et al., ; Yen et al., ), though a higher prevalence can be reached depending on aquaculture systems (Budiati et al., ). In EU countries, the prevalence of Salmonella in raw fish and fishery products is presumably very low, this pathogen having been detected in fish and crustacea only in a large survey from Italy (10/2,965 samples, 0.3%; (Busani et al., )), while prevalence has been zero in other studies conducted in France, UK, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Poland and Latvia (Davies et al., ; Herrera et al., ; Popovic et al., ; Terentjeva et al., ; Pyz‐Łukasik and Paszkiewicz, ). One serovar, S. enterica Weltevreden, seems to display a stronger association with fish and fishery products, particularly in South‐East Asia and North America, while in Europe, S .…”

“…Occurrence in finfish, for instance, ranged from null to 43.3% (reviewed in Jami et al. ()) being, in earlier as in more recent studies, predominantly in the interval between 0% and 10% (Yan et al., ; Das et al., ; Jami et al., ; Chen et al., , ; Jamali et al., ; İKİZ et al., ; Tao et al., ; Pyz‐Łukasik and Paszkiewicz, ; Rezai et al., ; Li et al., ). Similar occurrence of L. monocytogenes was reported also in crustacean and cephalopods, in which prevalence varies between zero and 28.8%, with values often below 5% (Wang et al., ; Pagadala et al., ; Momtaz and Yadollahi, ; Jami et al., ).…”