Investigation of Microbial contamination of commercial shrimps at Ahvaz Market

The aim of present study was to assess the susceptibility of vacuum packaging in prevention of microbial contamination of packaged fish fillets at Ahvaz market. In order to evaluate the microbial contamination of commercial shrimps at Ahvaz market, 8 common species has been used as follow: Penaeus semisulcatus, Penaeus indicus, Penaeus farfante, Penulirus homarus, Penaeus merguiensis, Parapenaopsis stylifra, Metapenaeus affinis, and Litopenaeus vanamei. For Identification of microbial contamination of sampled shrimps, the muscle tissue has been observed. Two bacterial family (Vibrionaceae and Streptococcaceae) including 2 genus and 3 species has been identified. The most abundant species was Streptococcus faecalis with frequency of 61.5% and the lowest frequent species was Vibrio alginolyticus (7.7%). No bacterial contamination has been detected in Penulirus homarus and Metapenaeus affinis. Penaeus farfante with the 4.5×103 contamination of Vibrio parahaemolyticus was the most contaminated species. In study of organs for detection of fungi, Penicillium expansum from Phylum Ascomycota, Family of Trichocomaceae has been detected. Due to the contamination of of studied specimens it should be noted that precise and continuous monitoring of possible pathogenicity of V. parahaemolyticus in order to evaluate the health risk of consuming sea food would be necessary.