M. Valle et al., OPTIMIZATION OF THE ENUMERATION OF TOTAL AEROBIC BACTERIAL-FLORA IN THE FLESH OF SEAFISH, Journal of rapid methods and automation in microbiology, 6(1), 1998, pp. 29-42
The total aerobic flora of seafish flesh is weakly halophilic, and req
uires on average 1.38% NaCl according to statistical studies. Enumerat
ion is optimal on tryptone soya agar or on NaCl supplemented plate cou
nt agar (-H2S), incubated at 20 and 25C, respectively. Plate count aga
r(-H2S) was selected because it can also be used for enumeration of hy
drogen sulfide-producing bacteria by degradation of sulfur-containing
proteins, which are abundant in fish The models employed are sigmoidal
. The initial bioburden is too great for there to be a lag phase durin
g storage in ice at 0C. The models show that when the total aerobic mi
croflora count exceeds 100, 000 cfu/g, whole or filleted fish stored o
n ice at 0C are unfit for consumption.