Microbiological quality and safety of smoked fish from Kainji Lake area

Microbiological qualities of 32 samples of smoked fish belonging to 4 species of fish namely: Clarias gariepinus, Oreochromis niloticus, Citharinus citharus and Synodontis membranaceous; from four (4) local markets (Monday Market, Sabo Market, Malale Market, Awuru Market) were studied. In most samples, moisture contents were high, 53.12% of the fish samples have moisture content above 30% level. The smoked samples were dominated by gram-positive bacteria however, potential pathogens, coagulase positive staphylococci, and Escherichia coli were isolated from some of the samples. Coliform were present in 78% of the samples.