Journal of Fisheries and Life Sciences

Author(s): Bhaskar Chandra Majumdar and Ibrahim Rashid

Abstract: The present study was conducted to assess microbiological quality of dried salted Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) samples collected from three different fish retailed markets (Chandpur, Chittagong and Narsingdi) and control samples prepared in laboratory environment. This study revealed that total plate count (TPC) in retail markets and control samples ranged from 5.75±0.35×10⁶ to 8.74±0.39×10⁷ cfu/g and 2.23±0.15×10⁵ to 3.13±0.20×10⁵ cfu/g, respectively. In samples of retail markets total fungal count (TFC) ranged from 5.67±0.30×10⁴ to 7.43±0.25×10⁴ cfu/g, TFC in control samples ranged from 1.15±0.10×10² to 2.47±0.21×10² cfu/g. It also found that total coliform count (TCC) in retail market and control samples ranged from 73.27±16.74 to 94.03±20.14 MPN/g and 20.11±2.39 to 31.45±5.74 MPN/g, respectively. Both samples for all counts, the highest TPC was found in Narsingdi sample and the lowest was in Chandpur sample. Besides this, 25 dry salted Hilsa samples from each three sources were analyzed to detect Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Vibrio cholerae. Maximum E. coli was found in Chittagong (100%) and Narsingdi (100%) retail market samples. In Chandpur, 52% of E. coli was found in control sample. The highest amount (76%) of Salmonella was detected in retail market of Narsingdi samples followed by Chittagong (36%) and Chandpur (32%), respectively. For control, Salmonella was detected in Narsingdi. Retail market samples of Chandpur (06%), Chittagong (09%) and Narsingdi (16%) were found contaminated with V. cholerae as well. However, V. cholerae were not found in control sample. Findings of this study indicated that the retail market and control samples of Chandpur were good quality for consumption, both samples of Chittagong and Narsingdi were more contaminated thus reflects the unhygienic condition of the markets.