Shahul Hameed continues the email thread...
>Thanks for the answer. The intrinsic conditions are a fish caught
>from fresh water and filleted in a normal surface at ambient
>temperatures of 22 deg celsius and product temperature at 10 deg
>celsius without any addition of salt and at 6.8 ph. I will be
>grateful if you can give me the doubling rate of enteros alone at
>this temp.
Hi Shahul,
There is a considerable literature on the effect of
temperature on growth of coliforms. I don't have any references at
my fingertips, but if I had to guess on a doubling time, I'd estimate
about an hour. The real doubling time at 22 degrees might well be 2
hours, but an hour should give you a margin of safety.
Of course, the best practice is to do everything you can to
keep the product temperature low before and after handling. Most
enterobacteriaceae have an absolute minimum growth temperature. In
other words, they stop growing altogether at some low temperature
(around or slightly below 10 degrees C). If you can ice the fillets,
you will eliminate the problem of growth of coliforms and the like.
Your mention of 'normal surfaces' brings up another problem.
When you and others on the Seafood Mailing List think "clean surface
and tools", it may be entirely different from what the workers think
is 'normal.' Education and supervision of the workers may the
biggest problem.
Best wishes,
George Chang
UC Berkeley, California
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