Changes in Bacterial Flora and Polyamines Contents during Storage of Horse Mackerel Meat

Abstract

Changes in bacterial flora and polyamines content during the storage of horse mackerel meat were studied at two different storage temperatures: 5°C and 30°C. The results obtained showed that Pseudomonas I/II and Pseudomonas III/IV-NH which are known as typical spoilage bacteria, were dominant in the bacterial flora of the spoilage stages in the samples stored at 5°C and putrescine, cadaverine and histamine were detected at high contents. On the other hand, the bacterial flora of the samples stored at 30°C showed Vibrio and Photobacterium as dominant bacteria and high con-tents of histamine and cadaverine were observed when the samples attained the spoilage level. The isolates from the samples were carried out on decarboxylation test in order to know qualitatively which group of bacteria produce polyamines detected in the samples. Pseudomonas I/II showed positive for arginine, Pseudomonas III/IV-NH for ornithine, Photobacterium for arginine and lysine and some Vibrio for arginine. The results suggested that Pseudomonas III/IV-NH produced pu-trescine in 5°C storage samples and Photobacterium produced agmatine and cadaverine in 30°C strage samples. However, no other bacteria were found which produced other polyamines detected in the samples.