Food-Borne Bacteria Associated with Seafoods: A Brief Review

Abstract

Consumption of contaminated seafoods is a major cause of death and hospitalization particularly in poor and developing countries. As with other food types, seafoods are also not free of food-borne pathogens and several risk factors are associated with its consumption. Regarding seafoods, there are regulatory hygienic alerts in importing countries. This paper briefly reviews the occurrence of seafood-borne diseases and describes the most important bacterial causes of these infections. Also, major bacterial threats, the route of infection, and food safety concerns associated with seafoods consumption are explained. Several bacterial pathogens, like Vibrio spp., Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium botulinum, Shigella spp., and Aeromonas spp. are considered as microbiological hazards for seafoods. These bacteria can contaminate seafood products anytime from farm to table. Some effective methods should be adopted for control and prevention of bacterial hazards in fish industry. Maintaining the microbiological water quality of domestic capture, post-harvest care, proper hygiene, etc. can minimize the bacterial hazards. Food-borne intoxications can be controlled by the proper refrigeration of seafoods and the continuous monitoring of the chill chain during the entire production process right up to consumption. Other ways to prevent food-borne outbreaks due to consumptions of seafoods are training of the consumers about correct handling of food, proper preparation, and storage of seafoods.