Influence of processing methods on mycoflora changes during storage of raw and processed Atlantic horse mackerel (<i>Trachurus trachurus</i>)

Abstract

Study assessed the influence of processing on mycoflora of kote fillet, skin, head and bones (SHB) during storage for 28 days at ambient temperature of (32 ± 2°C). Fish samples were prepared by smoking (wood and coal) and poaching using standard methods. Fungi associated with raw and processed fillets and SHBs included the species of Absidia glaucus. Absidia, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aureobasidium sp., Candida tropicalis, Candida krusei, Fusarium spp., Rhizopus sp., and Penicillium expansum. The various fungi was isolated using the direct plating and dilution plate methods indicated that wood smoke processing method had the highest (p<0.001) amount of mycoflora, which was followed by the coal smoke and poaching method. Also the SHB samples (fillet and SHB) had markedly low (p<0.05) fungal count than in the fillet. Thus, the SHB showed great promise in having lower (p<0.01) mycoflora which could be gathered and utilized at little costs for human food and animal feed, invariably reducing costs of feeds due to highly priced amount of casein, soybean meal and groundnut cake.

Keywords: Trachurus trachurus, temperature, smoked fish and mycoflora

African Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(19), 1992-1998