STUDY ON BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF FROZEN AND UNFROZEN PABDA (Ompok pabda) IN THE FISH PROCESSING PLANT

Abstract

The present study was investigated to determine the bacteriological quality of frozen and unfrozen Pabda (Ompok pabda) in the Fish Processing Plant (Eurocross Fish Processing Plant, Khadimnagar, Sylhet) during the period of January/2015 to October/2015. For this experiment five (5) frozen samples from five different lots and five (5) unfrozen samples which were ready for the processing and also preparation for the respective lots were taken for the estimation of bacteriological quality of fishes. The study was considered the bacteriological parameters such as Total Viable Count (TVC), Total Coliform (TC), and the occurrence of Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Vibrio cholera. The TVC of frozen samples were 2.9×10 5 5 5 , 1.8×10 5 , 1.5×10 , 2.5×10 and 5 3.5×10 CFU/g and furthermore. On the other hand, the TVC of unfrozen samples were 5×10 7 6 5 , 3×10 , 6×10 , 6 7 4×10 and 4×10 CFU/g respectively. The mean bacterial load of Frozen and Unfrozen Pabda were log 5.37±0.15 and log 7.02±0.59. The frozen samples contained lower bacterial load than unfrozen samples. The bacterial loads of frozen Pabda comply with ICMSF standard but the same of unfrozen Pabda does not comply with this standard. The TC of frozen samples were 20, 15, 20, 21 and 27 MPN/g and furthermore, whereas the TC of unfrozen samples were 160, 120, 120, 120 and 150 MPN/g respectively. The mean Total Coliform for both frozen and unfrozen samples were 20.6±4.28 and 134±19.49. From this study, it is very revealed that the Total Coliform of frozen pabda complies with ICMSF standard but the same of unfrozen Pabda does not comply with this standard. The detected pathogenic bacteria were Esherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Vibrio cholera. In frozen Pabda all of the identified pathogenic bacteria were absent. All of the unfrozen samples were contaminated with Esherichia coli, but two of the samples were contaminated with Salmonella spp. and one sample polluted with Vibrio cholerae. The results of this study indicated that the TVC, TC and all other identified pathogenic bacteria were higher in unfrozen Pabda than frozen Pabda. So, the bacteriological quality of frozen Pabda complies with ICMSF standard but the same of unfrozen samples does not comply with ICMSF standard. The results are more important for ensuring food safety as well as for export.