P. Dalgaard et al., IMPORTANCE OF PHOTOBACTERIUM-PHOSPHOREUM IN RELATION TO SPOILAGE OF MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE-PACKED FISH PRODUCTS, Letters in applied microbiology, 24(5), 1997, pp. 373-378
Occurrence and growth of Photobacterium phosphoreum were studied in 20
experiments with fresh fish from Denmark, Iceland and Greece. The org
anism was detected in all marine fish species but not in fish from fre
sh water. Growth of P. phosphoreum to high levels (>10(7) cfu g(-1)) w
as observed in most products and the organism is likely to be of impor
tance for spoilage of several modified atmosphere-packed (MAP) marine
fish species when stored at chill temperatures. Some microbiological m
ethods recommended for control of fish products by national and intern
ational authorities are inappropriate for detection of psychrotolerant
and heat-labile micro-organisms like P. phosphoreum. These methods ha
ve been used in many previous studies of MAP fish and this could expla
in why, contrary to the findings in the present study, P. phosphoreum
in general was not detected previously in spoiled MAP fish.