Microbiology of Commercial Fish and Prawn Pickles

Abstract

Pickling of fisin with salt and vinegar is one of the safest means of easy preservation. Pickled fish products are considered as delicacy and are generally expected to have a shelf-life of about 6 months at ambient temperature. Preparation of fish pickle or prawn pickle, involves steps such as blanching, heating in oil, deep fat frying with salt and spice mixture and addition of vinegar which are expected to destroy most of the micro-organisms associated with it. The product generally has a pH of about 4.5. One can find reports on the preparation of pickle from fin-fishes, prawns, and bivalves. Little or no information is available on the microbiology of pickled fish or prawn except the one reported for spoiled prawn pickle. The aim of this work was to examine the microbial flora associated with the commercial fish and prawn pickles and their ability to hydrolyse protein and lipid.