The Bacteriology of Distant Water Cod Landed at Hull

Abstract

SUMMARY Plate counts at 20° on the skin and flesh of distant water cod landed at Hull were within the ranges 4·2 × 103–3°6 × 107/cm2 and 2·3 × 103–2·4 × 106/g, respectively, with median values of approximately 106/cm2 and 105/g. The counts at 37° were considerably lower. A light but general contamination of the fish with Escherichia coli I and the presence of occasional coagulase positive staphylococci were observed. Organisms of the salmonella‐shigella groups were not detected. Pseudomonas and Achromobacter were the dominant genera and formed from 4% to 84%, and 3% to 65% of the total flora, respectively. Corynebacteria were usually present and in one case constituted 50% of the flesh flora. The significance of these findings in relation to proposed bacteriological standards for cleanliness of perishable foods and to the spoilage of fish is discussed.

The Microbiology of Fish and Fishery Products—a Progress Report

“…These figures are confirmed both in analyses of the flora of fish at the Hull market where the bulk of the landings are of fish stored in ice for 5 or more days, and by other workers (e.g. Spencer, 1961). The reasons why the Pseudoomonas spp.…”

“…jluorescens and their biotypes; group I1 included Ps. f r q i and a group completely missed by Stanier and his co-workers in their taxonomic scheme (Stanier, Palleroni & Doudoroff, 1966); groups III/IV, which included many of Stanier's species such as Ps. testosteroni and organisms previously misnamed, such as Vibrio percolans.…”