4^th International Food Safety, Quality & Policy Conference

Seafood plant sanitation is needed for ensuring safety and quality of the products manufactured. Many microorganisms are used as sanitation indicators in food processing plants: Total or aerobic plate counts (APC), total (TCC) and/or fecal coliforms, and Eschericia coli are the most common ones. Some other indicator microorganisms reported for trout (Ictalurus punctatus) processing plants are Pseudomonas and Aeromonas. Listeria (LIS) and Listeria monocytogenes are microorganisms with high prevalence in seafood, including trout products and processing environment. These species could be used as indicators of plant sanitation. The incidence of Listeria in live trout is very low, thus the presence of this organism in food processing plants may indicate inadequate sanitation practices. The objectives of this project were to investigate the incidence of Listeria spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in trout fish processing plants environment and products so as to identify possible points for sanitation. Samples of trout pond water, sediment, and live fish, as well as products, food contact, and non-contact surfaces in processing plants were sampled and tested for indicator organisms and Listeria. Results show that selected sites are high in APC, TCC, and LIS during pre-op.