Pathogenic bacteria load and safety of retail marine fish

This study was conducted to determine the pathogenic bacteria load of 14 species of marine fish obtained from two suppliers (in Bitlis city, Turkey), which provide fish for fish markets, and to reveal the safety of the marine fish in terms of microbiological quality. The counts of total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB), Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, the presence of Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes were determined in anchovy, horse mackerel, salmon, red mullet, gilthead seabream, bonito, pilchard, common sole, sand smelt, axillary seabream, seabass, Mediterranean horse mackerel, bluefish, and garpike. It was determined that common sole, axillary seabream, seabass, bluefish and Mediterranean horse mackerel obtained from both suppliers were unacceptable in terms of the counts of TMAB. Twenty-four samples exceeded the critical limit of S. aureus and all the samples were unacceptable according to the critical limit of E. coli. While L. monocytogenes was isolated from 50.0% of the samples, Salmonella spp. was isolated from 39.3% of the samples. These results showed that the pathogenic bacteria load of the analyzed marine fish was quite high and they were unsafe in terms of microbiological quality.