Surveillance of microbial pathogens and development of a predictive model for Staphylococcus aureus in dried fish fillet

This study aimed to achieve two primary objectives: (1) to evaluate microbial contamination in 580 dried fish fillets for the presence of key foodborne pathogens, including S. aureus, Salmonella spp., L. monocytogenes, C. perfringens, and Vibrio spp.; and (2) to develop predictive survival models for S. aureus in dried squid, Hwangtae-chae (dried pollack) and seasoned dried filefish. Microbial surveillance detected no, Salmonella spp., L. monocytogenes, or Vibrio spp.; however, S. aureus and C. perfringens was identified in one and four samples, respectively. Predictive modeling involved inoculating dried squid, Hwangtae-chae and seasoned dried filefish with S. aureus and storing them at 4 °C, 10 °C, 20 °C and 37 °C. The survival rates, analyzed using the Weibull distribution, exhibited clear temperature-dependent behavior. Secondary models, validated with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values of 0.39, 0.36 and 0.35 demonstrate their utility as effective tools for microbial risk assessment and enhancing food safety management practices.