Microbiological and Nutritional Quality of Market and Home Smoke Dried Shrimp

Bacteriological and nutritional quality of market and home smoke dried shrimp was carried out. Fresh and dried shrimps were bought from market. One set of the fresh shrimp was not rinsed before they were home smoke dried and used for analysis, another set was rinsed with clean water before they were home smoke dried and used for analysis and the market dried sample was used for analysis without any treatment. After the home smoke drying, the microbial load and types of microorganisms were determined using standard microbiological technique. The proximate compositions of the fresh shrimp, home smoke dried and market smoke dried shrimp were also determined. The population of the aerobic bacteria, Vibrio, Pseudomonas, fungi, Salmonella-Shigella, staphylococcal and coliform of the market smoke dried were 4.23±3.30, 1.98±3.15, 0.97±2.58, 2.95±2.96, 1.22±2.67, 3.89±3.22 and 1.88±2.86 CFU/10 g, respectively. The population of the aerobic bacteria, Vibrio, Pseudomonas, fungi, Salmonella-Shigella, staphylococcal and coliform of the home smoke dried not rinsed were 4.18±2.75, 2.69±3.43, 0.4±1.44, 1.96±2.8, 1.47±2.72, 2.33±3.08 and 2.85±3.06 CFU/10 g, respectively. The population of the aerobic bacteria, Vibrio, Pseudomonas, fungi, Salmonella-Shigella, staphylococcal and coliform of the home smoke dried rinsed shrimps were 4.11±2.48, 1.09±2.50, 0.00±0.00, 0.00±0.0, 1.56±2.62, 3.35±3.03 and 1.25±2.17 CFU/10 g, respectively. Eight bacteria genera which include Bacillus, Klebsiella, Proteus spp, Providencia, Pseudomonas, Shigella, Staphylococcus and Vibrio were identified. Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp, Rhizopus oligosporus and Saccharomyces cerevisae were the fungi isolates identified. Although the bacterial types could contain pathogenic strains, proper cooking could inhibit their presence in food. Smoke drying of the seafood could preserve the shellfish longer since the water activity of the seafood is reduced. The Moisture, Ash, fat, crude fibre, crude protein and Carbohydrate content of the fresh shrimps was 69.42±1.33, 2.58±0.23, 1.66±0.00, 3.86±0.18, 17.81±0.78 and 4.18±0.08%, respectively. Also, the Moisture, Ash, fat, crude fibre, crude protein and Carbohydrate content of the Market smoked dried was 15.92±0.23, 10.34±0.72, 0.96±0.05, 11.13±1.22, 51.07±0.00 and 10.59±0.6%, while the Moisture, Ash, fat, crude fibre, crude protein and Carbohydrate content of the Home smoked dried was 9.50±0.00, 8.95±0.07, 0.73±0.11, 9.48±0.60, 67.34±0.00 and 4.02±0.79%, respectively. The home smoked dried shrimps had less moisture content compared to the market dried shrimps. Smoke drying would be recommended for preservation since it does not reduce the nutritional quality of the shrimp and preservation of food has been a great challenge especially in developing countries where there is poor power supply. More so fresh seafood easily perishes especially when they are not well preserved.