Relation of Bacterial Counts to Quality of Cod Fillets

Abstract

Bacterial counts are valueless as a measure of the degree of spoilage in fresh fillets.There is a very close correlation between the number of psychrophilic gram-negative organisms on fillets and their keeping time in cold storage. This correlation degenerates into a 'general tendency' which cannot always be applied to individual samples, if the counts used include all the organisms growing on plates incubated at 25 °C. Counts made on plates incubated at 37 °C are of no value for estimating the keeping quality of fillets stored at low temperatures.