Pseudomonas spp. come agente di deterioramento in filetti di pesce freschi. Determinazione del potenziale di crescita mediante challenge test.

One of the main problems for food products is spoiling bacteria, which makes it unsuitable for human consumption. This can bring to great economical damages to the business operator but also food waste that is unsustanable. In this case an experiment was conducted on fish products. Fish is highly susceptible to spoilage by Pseudomonas spp., which is the target of this experiment. Understanding and keeping the bacterial load under control is very important to maintain the quality and safety of the fish products. A challenge test is hard because of the presence of Pseudomonas spp. before the inoculation. So a pilot study was done using Pseudomonas aureginosa, which is a species that has clinical importance in human and animal medicine, but its presence in food products is very rare. Northen cod, salmon and plance fish fillets packed in vacuum were inoculated and subjected to tests at both normal refrigeration(4°C) and termale abuse (from 4°C to 6°C and 8°C). The growth was minimal. This confirms that vacuum packaging can block the multiplication of Pseudomonas from lack of oxygen. This study was conducted to understand Pseudomonas spp. behavior in fish products and to take another step on furthering our knowledge into keeping under control the initial load of the bacteria with the final objective of keeping the product safe and secure for the consumer.