Good Hygiene Practice on Board Vessels for Fish Quality and Safety

Abstract

Fish and fish products are very appreciated in the human diet because of high quality proteins and other important nutrients, such as minerals and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Maintaining freshness, quality and safety is essential in the fish supply chain, starting from on board vessels where the product must be carefully checked and protected from any source of contamination. Safe fishing and handling of fish are very important to reduce the risk of foodborne diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as Salmonella spp., Vibrio spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium botulinum type E, viruses, and parasites. The inspection of raw material, use of good quality ice and water, high standards of personnel hygiene and cleanliness of equipment and fa-cilities as well as proper storage temperature are the most effective measures to ensure safety of fish and fish products for consumers. This review describes the good hygiene practice to be ap-plied on ships to preserve both fish products and public health.

Enterococcus spp. in fish: Analysis of the presence and resistance in samples from Tri-City, Poland

“…Mendoza, Aquino, and Reyes [ 30 ] found enterococci in their tilapia samples at an average level of 1.89 x10 7 cfu/g, while Çardak et al [ 13 ] observed the presence of enterococci ranging from 1.0 to 2.5-log cfu/g in less than 10% of the analyzed raw and processed seafood samples. Higher contamination of raw materials with enterococci may result from contamination during evisceration due to poor personal hygiene, poor processing hygiene, or poor water quality [ 13 , 31 ]. Processing technologies (freezing and smoking) can reduce the bacterial load of food [ 32 ], as observed in this study ( Table 2 ).…”