Effect of Antimicrobial Properties of Pepper Fruits on Some Spoilage Organism of Sudanese Wet-Salted Fermented Fish (Fassiekh) Product

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of antimicrobial characteristics of hot and sweet pepper on some spoilage organisms of Fassiekh (wet-salted fermented fish) products. The crude Fessiekh (Hydrocynus spp) was treated with pepper fruits (fruit-1 Capsicum annuum -sweet pepper, fruit-2 Capsicum frutescens -hot pepper) as natural conserving materials. The chemical composition of crude and treated Fassiekh were quite significantly different (p < 0.001) in moisture, (p < 0.05) in ash and pH, and had no significant differences in both protein and fat. The total viable counts in the first four days after pepper fruit addition were decreased and showed high significant differences (p < 0.001) between the two types of pepper fruits, and the addition of hot pepper was more effective on the total viable counts which decreased the limits of studied product from 43.4×10³± 1.3×10³ at first day to 4.5×10³ ± 1.0×10³ after 96 hours, The Staphylococcus aureus test showed positive results with count (7.6x10³) for crude, and (21.9x10³) sweet pepper-treated Fassiekh, and negative for hot pepper-treated Fassiekh. The Listeria spp. test was found to be positive for Fassiekh treated with sweet and hot pepper, and negative for crude Fassiekh samples and Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogens test.