Research Article
Mohamed HR, Ibrahim SM, Hafez
Abstract
Microbial quality of Tilapia Fish Samples during frozen storage at -18°C for 180 days and their fried products were determined. Total viable counts of bacteria were 2.25×104 and 1.7×104 cfu/g for farm A and B respectively. Yeast and Mold counts (Y&M) were 9.5×102 and 4.66×102 cfu/ g for farms A and B samples, respectively. Total viable counts of frozen tilapia fish samples increased to 3.13 and 3.93 ×104 cfu/g after 60 days of storage for farms A and B, respectively, then decreased to 0.7 and 0.66×104 cfu/g after 120 days of storage for farms A and B, respectively, then increased to 4.26 and 2.43×104 cfu/g for frozen stored samples from farms A and B, respectively at the end of storage period. After frying the total viable counts increased in samples at zero time, and then decreased with storage periods of raw frozen samples until the end of frozen storage. After the frying process the counts of Y&M increased in all samples at the storage periods, while the fried samples from farm B decreased to 14.66×102 cfu/g after 60 days raw storage. At the end of storage the counts of thermophilic bacteria increased to 17 and 12 (×103 cfu/g) for fried samples from farms A and B, respectively.