1. Microbiological quality of raw and processed wild and cultured edible snails.
- Author
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Parlapani FF, Neofitou C, and Boziaris IS
- Subjects
- Animals, Animals, Wild growth & development, Bacterial Load, Bacterial Typing Techniques, Conus Snail growth & development, Cooking, Enterobacteriaceae classification, Enterobacteriaceae isolation & purification, Enterococcus classification, Enterococcus growth & development, Enterococcus isolation & purification, Escherichia coli classification, Escherichia coli growth & development, Escherichia coli isolation & purification, Greece, Helix, Snails growth & development, Intestines growth & development, Intestines microbiology, Mediterranean Islands, Microbial Viability, Salmonella classification, Salmonella growth & development, Salmonella isolation & purification, Shellfish economics, Animals, Wild microbiology, Aquaculture, Conus Snail microbiology, Enterobacteriaceae growth & development, Food Handling, Helix, Snails microbiology, Shellfish microbiology
- Abstract
Background: An increasing interest in snail farming in Greece and other European countries has been observed. Despite the fact that edible snails have been involved with problems of Salmonella spp. contamination, there are to our knowledge only limited studies regarding microbiological safety and hygiene of such products. Enumeration of microbial populations and presence/absence of Salmonella spp. in snail meat and intestines of wild Cornu aspersum, Helix lucorum and cultured Cornu aspersum snails from indoor/outdoor type farms was conducted. Furthermore, snail-processing steps were simulated in the laboratory and the population reduction in snail meat was determined., Results: Microbial populations were higher in intestines than snail meat in almost all cases. Escherichia coli/coliforms and Enterococcus spp. populations were lower in the intestines and snail meat of cultured C. aspersum. Salmonella spp. were detected in the intestines and snail meat of wild snails only. The high levels of bacterial populations were considerably reduced after the appropriate processing., Conclusion: The lower populations of E. coli/coliforms, Enterococcus spp. and especially the absence of Salmonella spp. in cultured snails show that the controlled conditions decrease the possibility of pathogen presence and contribute to food safety and public health., (© 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.)
- Published
- 2014
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