South Asian Journal of Research in Microbiology

Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the hazards associated with oyster from two communities in Rivers State and provides an insight at improving the safety of oyster through the application of the hazards analysis critical control points (HACCP) concept in processing freshly harvested mangrove oysters.

Study Design:  This work is based on completely randomized design with two replications and the average values calculated for mean comparison.

Place and Duration of Study: Food and Industrial Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, University of Port Harcourt, between October 2018 and March, 2019.

Methodology: The proximate composition, pH and bacterial profile of oysters prepared conventionally and that prepared employing critical control points concept determined using standard methods.

Results: The proximate composition of oyster meat revealed the following: moisture (83.73%), protein (8.36%), lipid (1.28%), fiber (1.04%), carbohydrate (2.12%) and ash content (3.47%). The average aerobic plate count for Abuloma and Okrika were 5.69 and 6.98 log₁₀CFU/g respectively while coliform count was 5.37 and 5.02log₁₀CFU/g respectively. Two bacterial genera (Staphylococcus and Bacillus) were isolated from oyster processed with HACCP approach at the last critical control point 7, whereas, nine bacterial genera (Bacillus, Streptococcus, Vibrio, Escherichia, Lactobacillus, Klebsiella, Proteus, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas) were isolated from the conventionally processed oysters.

Conclusion: The HACCP concept gave an improved microbiological quality of oyster meat and the safety of oyster and potential economic value.