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.