Food Safety in Association with Bacteriological Quality of Some Marine Water Fishes

In the current study, one hundred and twenty random samples of marine water fishes represented by Pagrus pagrus (morgan), Atherina hepsetus (Basaria), Mullus surmuletus (barboni) and Saurida undosquamis (makarona) fishes (30 of each), which were collected from different retail fish markets in Qalubiya governorate, Egypt, were examined bacteriologically for their potential of fish-borne pathogenic bacteria of health hazard concerns. Results revealed S. Aureus as the most prevalent bacteria in the total of the examined samples, that was detected in the examined samples (45.0%), followed by E. Coli (30.8%), V. Parahaemolyticus (18.3%) and Salmonella spp. (5.0%). On the other hand, Basaria fish samples revealed higher incidence of V. Parahaemolyticus, E. Coli and S. Aureus than the other examined samples. Additionally, Salmonella spp. Was not detected in any of the examined Morgan samples. It is worth noted that Ps. Aeruginosa and A. Hydrophila were not detected in any of the examined samples. Furthermore, the isolated strains were subjected to in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility against amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ampicillin/sulbactam, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, levofloxacin, Trimethoprim/Sulphamethoxazol and tetracycline; moreover, methicillin and vancomycin were especially applied against S. Aureus isolates; where it was proven that most of the isolates were sensitive to the used antibiotics in variable degrees, in which β-lactams and tetracycline recorded higher resistance levels than the other used antibiotics. Moreover, pathogenicity and antimicrobial profile of some of the detected isolates were estimated molecularly against some virulence factors and antibiotic resistance genes. After all, it can be concluded that marine water fishes may be considered as a possible source of foodborne pathogens, whereas it can be loaded with different other foodborne bacteria during storage and presentation.