Microbiological Assessment of Locally Dried Fish in Oman: Technical Note

Abstract

During fish drying process, elements and processes that affect the quality of dried fish might take place. The traditional sun-drying approach incurs major losses of the dried fish in terms of quantity and quality. Dried fish also suffer from insects and sand contamination as well as high concentration of ash especially when fish is dried on sand. The presence of microorganisms is another major factor affecting the quality of dried fish. In this project, a number of analytical tests were used to verify the presence of biochemical contamination in dried fish, as well as to propose an engineering solution to reduce the incidence of these contaminations. Two types of fish samples (anchovy and kingfish) were collected from two local markets (Buraimi and Seeb). The parameters analyzed included Total Fungal Count (TFC), Total Viable Count (TVC) and enumeration of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Coliforms species in dried fish. Results showed the presence of 3 types of bacteria; E. coli, staphylococcus aureus, and coliforms in anchovy samples more than in kingfish (locally known as “Owal”) samples from both places. The kingfish samples from both places showed the presence of fungi at very small quantities (TFC<2000 cfu/ml) while the anchovy brought from Buraimi market had much more fungi which was relatively more than that brought from Seeb market. From the above results, great concern has to be made when purchasing dried fish. We recommend to dry fish under more hygienic conditions and to use solar driers instead of direct drying on beach sands.