Nutritional Quality and Evaluation of Some Microbial Flora of Smoked Fish Sold in Some Public Markets in the City of Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)

Objective: The general objective of this work is to evaluate the microbiological quality of some smoked fish sold in the markets of the city of Abidjan.

Methods: The collection of samples for analysis took place in the markets of the communes of Cocody II- Plateaux (Sococe) and Cocody Center, Abobo, Adjamé Williamsville and the big market. Moisture content, lipid content, protein content and ash content were performed. A quantity of 10 samples composed of 5 smoked fish per sample were collected by market in sterile stomascher bags, then transported in a cooler containing ice to the laboratory to perform microbiological analysis. These are inoculation in the mass which took into account the Sabouraud media with chloramphenicol, VRBL, PCA, BEA VRBG and surface inoculation by spreading which took into account the E. coli Rapid 2 and Baird Parker media. . Also, the search for Salmonella was carried out in 4 stages. these are Pre-enrichment, enrichment, isolation and identification.

Results: After various tests, different microbial spoilage flora were found in smoked fish sold in the different markets of Abidjan. These include fungal flora (yeasts/molds), mesophilic aerobic germs and enterobacteria. All samples from the study markets were contaminated with these different microflora. The CFU load/g for mesophilic aerobic germs ranged from 38.106 ± 12 to 65.106 ± 12 CFU/g. For fungal flora, loads ranged from 103 ± 11 to 284 ± 14 CFU/g. Enterobacteria loads ranged from 183± 10 to 418 ± 11 CFU/g. These smoked fish contain potentially pathogenic bacterial species including Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus with very high respective loads ranging from 51 ± 12 to 86 ± 12 CFU/g and from 125 ± 13 to 437 ± 13 CFU/g. These loads are not in conformity with the criteria set by the standard (10 CFU/g). The smoked fish samples studied contain several nutrients whose average levels vary from one sample to another. Thus, these smoked fish contain water, lipids, proteins and total ash with average values of 10.089 ± 0.11%, 11.24%, 77.5%, 5.255±0.0055 respectively.