Microbial Safety of Smoked Fish -Cat Fish Sold In Navrongo, Upper East Region of Ghana

Abstract

Fish preservation and processing could lead to serious and gross contamination of fish by pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella spp, E.coli   etc, which can cause food-borne infections which can be detrimental to human health and sometimes fatal. Smoked fish is defined as a product in which the fish flesh proteins show incomplete coagulation or partially undenatured.  Microbial flora distribution in smoked fish products varies largely, depending on the quality of fish at the time of smoking, the smoking temperature and duration, the salt content, and the drying time.Fish is a very good source of protein, vitamins minerals and oil in human diet. It is preferred by many people worldwide because of its high protein value, medicinal value and comparatively highly susceptible to mould, E.coli, faecal coliform contamination. Yet little information is available on the extent of contamination in the region. This study explores the level and extent of contamination of smoked fish in Navrongo, in the Upper East Region in the Northern Ghana. A survey of smoked fish sellers was carried out in the Navrongo market in the Upper East Region of the Northern Ghana. The sample size was taken and a total of ten places of smoked fish sellers were randomly selected to represent the places where samples were collected. Ten samples were taken from these sellers, labeled from A to J and sent to the laboratory for analysis.Samples were prepared by blending and filtering. The samples were grounded and serial dilutions (10^-1 ─ 10^-4) of the homogenized samples were made using sterile distilled water. One millilitre of the serially diluted samples was taken in duplicates and plate count agar was poured at 40°C on the plates. The samples and the medium were properly mixed, allowed to set and incubated at 35°C for 24hrs. The number of colonies on the plates was counted.

Keywords: Microbial Safety, Smoked Fish, Food Safety, Food-borne Infections, fish preservation