MICROBIOLOGICAL, MINERAL AND HEAVY METAL ASSESMENT OF SEA FOOD

Seafood is any fish or shellfish from the sea used for food. It includes all fresh or saltwater finfish, mollusks, shellfish, crustaceans, and other forms of edible aquatic animal life. Seafood is consumed all over the world and it is generally accepted that seafood is important in a healthy, safe, nutritious, and balanced diet. Over one billion people rely on seafood, Seafood serve as a vital source of food for man constituting over 40% of animal protein consumed by Nigerians. There is an increasing world demand for seafood because of its nutritive content which is beneficial for people of all age group including the young and the old. However, the increasing demands for seafood have led to increase in illness resulting from the consumption of sea food, for instance, disease caused by Vibrio spp., Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli have been reported previously. Foodborne pathogens from seafood origin have gained prominence and are a threat to public health. Hence the need to microbiologically assess the sea food samples, determine the mineral content and to analyze the heavy metal concentration present in the samples. The bacterial was isolated using standard microbiological methods, identification was done using 16sRNA gene sequence. Mineral and heavy metal analysis were carried out using standard methods. Molecular identification revealed the presence of Acinetobacter baumanni, Bacillus subtillis and Bacillus sanguinis with Bacillus subtillis having the highest frequency of occurrence of 54.5%, followed by Acinetobacter baumanni of 31.8% and lastly by Bacillus sanguinis with 13.7%. The mineral analysis revealed that calcium ranged from 7.9 -114.32mg/L, iron content ranged from 0.00- 3.32mg/L, magnesium content ranged from 9.88 – 12.31 and Potassium content ranged from 14.88- 50.88. However, the sea food samples analysed in this study were found to be absent in heavy metal.

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