Research Article Open Access

Microbial Examination of Some Selected Natural Preservatives on The Shelf Life And Safety of Smoked Tilapia Fish (Oreochromis niloticus)

Abstract

Fish has been playing an important role in nutritional, profitability and livelihood security of people in many developing countries. This work was carried out to study the microbial examination of some selected natural preservatives on the shelf life and safety of smoked tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus). The microbial load counts (TVC, TCC and TFC cfu/g) of the microorganisms, sensory evaluation, proximate composition and isolated microorganism were evaluated on smoked tilapia fish preserved for 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks with 5 g of salt, ginger, garlic, clove (natural preservatives) and unpreserved sample. Salt sample recorded highest total viable count (TVC) of 3.5 × 105 and zero/no growth was recorded in ginger, clove and garlic sample at the end of 8 weeks of storage while after 6 weeks of storage, unpreserved sample got spoilt. Highest fungi count (TFC) of 4.4 × 105 was recorded in clove sample and zero/no growth was recorded in salt, ginger and garlic sample while unpreserved sample has spoilt after 4 weeks of storage. At the end of 8 weeks of storage, the total coliform count (TCC) of all the samples recorded zero/no growth except unpreserved sample that has been spoilt after 6 weeks of storage and the microorganism isolated from the samples exhibited that the highest number of microorganism species was showed in untreated sample with 6 species of microbes and the least was in garlic with 3 species of microbes. The highest value (64.75%) of crude protein in proximate composition was recorded in ginger sample while the least was 20.32% in unpreserved sample. Sensory evaluation results show that all the samples were generally accepted by consumers except unpreserved sample. A significant difference in the number of colonies formed between the groups at (p<0.05) was recorded in Statistical analysis. All the preservative samples used in this work, reduced the microbial load, discourage quick spoilage, and encourage longer shelf-life of smoked tilapia fish. These natural preservatives are medicinal which have no effect and add to the flavour/seasoning of some foods and they also act as antimicrobial agents by killing microbes present in the food.

Tairu HM, Adedokun MA, Adelodun OB, and BadmusBD

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