Food Poisoning Bacteria from Commercially Important Fish Species Collected from Markets in Mazandaran Province

Considering the high importance of food poisoning bacteria in terms of public health threats and economic damages, this research aimed at evaluating food poisoning bacteria in some commercially important fish species collected from markets in Mazandaran, Iran.

For this purpose, 200 frozen fish belonging to 4 species were purchased from the stores and transferred to the laboratory. Samples were tested for total counting of aerobic bacteria, Escherichia coli count, Staphylococcus aureus count, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and detection of Salmonella according to Iranian national standard methods.

In the studied samples, Salmonella, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus were not observed. Comparing the results with the Iranian national standards, the total number of aerobic bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus in all samples was in normal range. The number of E. coli in 14% of samples of Rain bow trout, 20% of Clupeonella Cultriventris, 20% of Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and 10% of Scomberomorus commerson samples was higher than the standard range, due to the importance of pathogenicity of different strains of E. coli in humans, microbial control of the packed fish is very important.

The results of microbial investigations of frozen raw fish collected from stores in different cities of Mazandaran province can be defined satisfactorily, since the majority of samples conform to reference standards.