摘要：The catfish industry is important to the United States economy. The present study determined the levels of microbial indicators and the prevalence of
Listeria spp. and
Listeria monocytogenes at catfish farms and catfish processing plants. Live fish, water, and sediment samples were analyzed in farms. Fish skin, fillets, chiller water, and environmental surfaces were assessed at the processing plants both during operation and after sanitation. Live fish had 2% prevalence of
Listeria monocytogenes, while sediment and water were negative for
Listeria. Live fish skin counts averaged 4.2, 1.9, and 1.3 log CFU/cm
2 aerobic (APC), total coliform (TCC) and generic
Escherichia coli counts, respectively. Water and sediment samples averaged 4.8 and 5.8 log CFU/g APC, 1.9 and 2.3 log CFU/g TCC, and 1.0 and 1.6 log CFU/g generic
E. coli counts, respectively. During operation,
Listeria prevalence was higher in fillets before (57%) and after (97%) chilling than on fish skin (10%). Process chiller water had higher (
p ≤ 0.05) APC, TCC, and
Listeria prevalence than clean chiller water. After sanitation, most sampling points in which
Listeria spp. were present had high levels of APC (>2.4 log CFU/100 cm
2). APC combined with
Listeria spp. could be a good approach to understand microbial contamination in catfish plants.
