MICROBIAL QUALITY OF AN ALASKA NATIVE SMOKED SALMON PROCESS

A 4-day process of smoking and drying at ambient temperature (30 degre es C) was used to produce Alaska Native-style salmon strips. A water a ctivity of 0.95 during the first 3 days of smoking and drying allowed initial aerobic and facultative anaerobic microbial counts of 1.4 X 10 (4)/g and 6.5 X 10(3)/g to reach 2.1 X 10(6)/g and 2.8 X 10(6)/g of fi sh, respectively. Coliform and yeast counts, which were less than 3/g and less than 4.0 X 10(2)/g respectively, increased to 2.4 X 10(5)/g a nd 4.2 X 10(4)/g of fish by day 4. Staphylococcus aureus counts increa sed from 15/g to 2.4 X 10(5)/g of fish during processing. The high S. aureus count in this product indicates consumers may be at risk.