Survival of Salmonella Enteritidis during salting and drying of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) fillets

Survival of Salmonella Enteritidis inoculated (5–6 log cfu/g) on horse mackerel fillets was studied during salting and/or drying processes at 4 °C for up to 70 days. Sample groups were as follows: group A (salt/fish = 80/100), group B (salt/fish = 30/100), group C (salted as group A and dried after 15 days), group D (salted as group B and dried after 15 days), and group E (dried without salting). The salt content increased in all groups with a maximum level of 29.36%. Final salt contents (%) were higher (P < 0.05) in salted–dried groups (C and D) than the salted groups (A and B). Total reductions in aw values were found as group E > group D > group C > groups A and B (P < 0.05). Salmonella survived 60 days in group A, 65 days in group B, 35 days in group C, 45 days in group D and 20 days in group E. Drying process following salting accelerated the elimination of this pathogen. Salmonella survived longer in salted samples than in salted–dried and dried samples. This work demonstrated that Salmonella may be inhibited by one of salting, drying and salting–drying techniques; however, processing periods should be long enough to reduce aw sufficient to inhibit this pathogen.