Safety and quality of fresh water crayfish Procambarus clarkii in the river Nile

Fresh water crayfish Procambarus clarkii which recently appeared in River Nile and its resources all over Egypt was microbiologically and chemically evaluated in order to determine its safety and quality as human food. The average aerobic plate and Enterobacteriaceae counts/g were 1.6 x 10(8) and 3.5 x 10(5), and the coliforms and E. coli were isolated from 100% and 40% of the examined samples respectively. However, Salmonellae could not be isolated from any of the examined samples. 20% of the samples were safe for human consumption, while 33.33% were marginally acceptable and 46.67% were unacceptable. The mean gross weight, yield of meat, moisture, fat, protein, ash and caloric values were 27.71 g, 12.37%, 82.19%, 0.59%, 15.6%, 1.51% and 283.3 KJ (67.71 Kcal) respectively. Recommended rules for its safety were mentioned.