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Fresh and frozen seafood products (fish, shellfish, crustaceans, molluscs) in wide use in Croatia and typical of the Mediterranean diet, were examined for the presence of microbiological contamination through the winter and summer seasons. Total bacterial counts of aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AB), aerobic psychrophilic bacteria (AP), Salmonella spp., Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, sulphite-reducing clostridia (SRC), Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus were measured. The microbiological quality of individual samples varied widely between animal species and also between winter/summer seasons regarding total counts of aerobic mesophilic and psychrophilic bacteria. The poorest quality was for (both summer and winter) fish samples, where 66.6 % of fresh and frozen fish were found unacceptable by Croatian standards. The overall prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus was 5%. Its recovery rate was higher in fresh/ frozen shellfish in both seasons than in other specimens or other storage/season conditions. Fresh crustaceans sampled in winter demonstrated significantly higher aerobic mesophilic counts than frozen ones. Unacceptable Enterobacteriaceae levels were obtained in 40% of the fresh fish summer samples. The results of this survey constitute an indicator of bacteriological contamination of a variety of seafood. The findings could serve as a basis for future testing of seafood, and possibly as a template for developing a regional/Mediterranean testing scheme on the microbial contamination of seafood in order to establish data with comparative epidemiological and statistical values.

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium widespread in the environment, which has a capacity to survive and grow under various conditions. The bacterial growth results from interactions when subjected to various temperatures, pH levels, and NaCl concentrations were examined by measurements and predictive modelling. Good correlation across the range of growth conditions was shown among observed and predicted growth values, having similar trends and minimal defl ections for pH levels 5.0 and 6.0. The growth condition in the 8% NaCl concentration (pH 7.0, temperature 4 °C) resulted with a growth curve of 1 log interval greater than the fi tted curve for all the measurements. In all of the cases, there were consistent increases in the rates and decreases in the lag time when the growth temperature increased. Higher incubation temperatures provided higher growth rates as 30 °C and 35 °C yielded double increase of the fi tted rate. Fitted and measured growth rates for salinity conditions were signifi cantly different (P<0.05). Comparison of doubling times showed good compatibility, particularly at lower temperatures. Critical use of a model is suggested, although it may enable microbiologists to limit the need of challenge tests and to make rapid and realistic prediction of the growth of L. monocytogenes under conditions relevant to a range of aquatic and other products examined.