Ih. Vennemann et al., BACTERIAL-POPULATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROCESSING OF CAPE HAKE (MERLUCCIUS-CAPENSIS AND MERLUCCIUS-PARADOXUS), Journal of food protection, 57(11), 1994, pp. 1016-1018
Numbers of bacteria associated with Cape hake from catching through pr
ocessing to the finished product and final spoilage were determined by
pour plating on Sea Water Agar (SWA). Subsequently, a total of 1,020
predominant bacteria from the different stages were isolated and ident
ified to genus level. A significant reduction (p<0.05) in bacterial nu
mbers after the first wash during processing ashore and a significant
increase (p<0.05) after day 3 of refrigerated storage of final product
were observed. No significant differences in bacterial numbers betwee
n the different stages onboard the trawler or during processing ashore
were apparent. Psychrotrophic bacteria from predominantly four genera
, namely Moraxella, Pseudomonas, Corynebacterium and Micrococcus, were
isolated in this study. The relative proportions of these organisms w
as found to change only to a small extent during the chilled processin
g chain, with the genus Moraxella (46 to 57%) predominating. After sev
eral days of refrigerated storage, however, the relative proportion of
Pseudomonas increased (from 34 to 90%) leaving this genus predominati
ng in spoiled product.