Reduction of endogenous bacteria associated with catfish fillets using the Grovac process

Fresh catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) fillets are known to be contaminated with a large number of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. The Grovac method, a new patented (U.S. 5,543,163) process, was evaluated for its efficacy in reducing the number of pathogens and spoilage microorganisms associated with food. This process involves using a processing solution containing ascorbic acid (AA) and sodium chloride (NaCl), vacuum, and tumbling. A total of 51 bacterial isolates were isolated and identified from whole catfish and catfish fillets using both selective and nonselective media, phenotypic tests, and the Vitek identification system. Psychrotrophic foodborne pathogens included: Aeromonas hydrophila, Escherichia coli, Listeria sp., Plesiomonas shigelloides, Proteus sp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. High aerobic plate counts (2.6 x 10(7) CFU/g) for catfish fillets indicated that fillets were heavily contaminated during processing of catfish. The Grovac process showed that various treatment combinations of AA and NaCl resulted in a 1.2 to 2.3 CFU/g log reduction of microbial counts associated with catfish fillets. The effectiveness of the process may be related to the synergistic effect of tumbling, AA, NaCl, and vacuum. These results suggested that the Grovac process could be used as an alternative processing procedure to reduce microbial populations associated with catfish fillets and may be useful to improve the shelf-life and food safety of the product. Microbiological data from this study will be used for the development of a hazard analysis for the implementation of the hazard analysis critical control point program for processed catfish fillets.