Assessment of the microbial contribution to the processing of salted salmon roe (Sujiko)

As the microbial contributions to the processing of salted foods have been little investigated, there remains a possibility that excess sterilization of raw materials for salted foods leads to deterioration in food quality and safety. At a salmon roe (sujiko) processing company, we investigated salted sujiko made identically to commercial products, but that had been processed with or without antibiotics. The antibiotics caused no significant difference in the content of free amino acids, lactic acid or acetic acid. These results show that general aerobic bacteria have no impact on the formation of these flavor compounds.