The Bacteriology of Distant Water Cod Landed at Hull

SUMMARY Plate counts at 20° on the skin and flesh of distant water cod landed at Hull were within the ranges 4·2 × 10 3 –3°6 × 10 7 /cm 2 and 2·3 × 10 3 –2·4 × 10 6 /g, respectively, with median values of approximately 10 6 /cm 2 and 10 5 /g. The counts at 37° were considerably lower. A light but general contamination of the fish with Escherichia coli I and the presence of occasional coagulase positive staphylococci were observed. Organisms of the salmonella‐shigella groups were not detected. Pseudomonas and Achromobacter were the dominant genera and formed from 4% to 84%, and 3% to 65% of the total flora, respectively. Corynebacteria were usually present and in one case constituted 50% of the flesh flora. The significance of these findings in relation to proposed bacteriological standards for cleanliness of perishable foods and to the spoilage of fish is discussed.