Microbiological Quality Assessment of Frozen Fish and Fish Processing Materials from Bangladesh

The present study aims at the microbiological analysis of export oriented frozen fishes, namely, Jew fish, Tongue Sole fish, Cuttle fish, Ribbon fish, Queen fish, and fish processing water and ice from a view of public health safety and international trade. Microbiological analysis includes the determination of total viable aerobic count by standard plate count method and enumeration of total coliforms and fecal coliforms by most probable number method. The presence of specific fish pathogens such as Salmonella spp. and Vibrio cholerae were also investigated. The TVAC of all the samples was estimated below 5 × 105 cfu/g whereas the total coliforms and fecal coliforms count were found below 100 MPN/g and 10 MPN/g, respectively, which meet the acceptable limit specified by International Commission of Microbiological Specification for Food. The microbiological analysis of water and ice also complies with the specifications having TVAC < 20 cfu/mL, and total coliforms and fecal coliforms count were below the limit detection of the MPN method. Specific fish pathogens such as Salmonella sp. and V. cholerae were found absent in all the samples under the investigation. From this study, it can be concluded that the investigated frozen fishes were eligible for export purpose and also safe for human consumption.