Evaluation of Different Fish Processing Kits for Better Quality Preservation

There is no appropriate fish processing kit at all landing sites and processing area hence fish has been processed on the ground which results in poor quality of the product since fish is very perishable food stuff and these results in public/consumer health hazards due to the presence of pathogenic bacteria, moulds and yeasts. This research activity was initiated with the objective to evaluate the quality of fish processed on different processing kit. In this study the microbial load of four samples (fish fillet processed on the ground (S4), plastic table (S3), wood table(S2), and stain less steel table (s1)) was determined. 1 gram fish fillet was added to 9 ml peptone water and homogenized in stomacher bag. Then appropriate serial dilutions (10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4 & 10-5) of all samples were prepared and then 0.1 ml of the odd power dilutions were taken and plated using spread and pour plate technique in duplicate by using a Standard Medias for each bacteria, mold and yeast. Finally, it was incubated and then number of colony was counted and colony forming units was calculated. The result indicate that aerobic bacterial count and Staphylococcus Species for S1, S2, S3 left under moderate microbiological risk category while only S4 shows the highest risk. Salmonella species and Shigella species didn’t show any growth for all the samples. Despite S4 which shows total coliform, E-coli and fecal coliform growth at the highest level of microbiological risk category S1 didn’t show any growth. The highest microbial load other than Salmonella and Shigella species cfu/g observed from fish fillet processed on ground could be due to human contact through air particles breathed, coughed or sneezed out during the course of work or from food handlers or from other sources in the air within the processing area. It was concluded that fish should not be processed on the ground to prevent contamination during post harvest handling and processing. Finally, further research work covering wider area, different fish species and large sample size should be done to identify problems and determine appropriate processing table.