Microbial quality of frozen squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana, Lesson 1830) treated with food grade commercial chemicals

Squids perish rapidly like other fishes and require some treatment to maintain the quality for export. The microbial quality of frozen squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana, Lesson 1830) treated with the commercial food grade chemicals imported from Spain was therefore studied. Dressed squids were treated with the chemicals Hidratech_4A (0.4%) and Whitech_3 (0.25%) dissolved in chilled freshwater (STCF) and chilled saltwater (STCS). Chilled squids not treated served as control (SNTC). Squids were quick frozen at -40 degrees C in contact plate freezer and stored at-20 +/- 1 degrees C. Samples were tested raw, after pre-processing, treatments and freezing and during storage at monthly intervals for 7 months. The microbial quality evaluation included Total Plate Count (TPC), Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae and Salmonella. Study revealed a better quality of treated samples than control. Microbiological quality of STCS was better than STCF and SNTC. E. coli counts decreased after treatment. Salmonella and V. cholerae were absent.