Comparative study of microbial, proximate and heavy metal compositions of some gastropods, bivalve and crustacean seafood
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Background: Seafood are known to be nutritionally rich, however, water bodies from where these foods
are harvested are often burdened with wastes from industries, household and run‐offs. Thus seafood
can harbor pathogenic microorganisms and heavy metals which can pose a serious health hazard to
consumers.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 5kg each of Littorina littorea, Achatina fulica,Tympanotonos
fuscatus, Dorsanum miran, Egeria radiate and Penaeus notialis were investigated for microbial,
proximate and heavy metal qualities using standard microbiological and chemical methods of analysis.
Results: The gastropod mollusks Tympanotonos fuscatus, Littorina littorea and Achatina fulica had
significantly (p≤0.05) higher microbial loads compared to other samples. All the samples had
significantly (p≤0.05) higher coliform counts compared to standard specifications. The microbial isolates
from the samples included species of Bacillus, Klebsiellae, Citrobacter, Providencia, Pseudomonas,
Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, yeasts, Alternaria,
Absidia, Rhizopus, and Mucor. Antibiogram of the isolates revealed multiple resistances with 79.55%
and 66.67% resistance to antibacterial and antifungal agents respectively. The seafood was rich in
protein (8.0±0.03 to 46.0±0.03%) and fat (0.6±0.01 to 8.8±1.00%) but low in carbohydrate (1.18±0.84 to
3.81±0.86%).The heavy metal compositions of the seafood were generally low except for manganese
6.36±0.03ppm in Dorsanum miran and nickel 0.81±0.50 ppm in Penaeus notialis.
Keywords
QH301 Biology, QR Microbiology