Microbial Quality Assessment of Open Sun and Solar Tent Dried Barbus paludinosus in Lake Chilwa Basin

This study assessed the effects of two processing methods; open sun drying and solar tent drying on microbial quality of Barbus paludinosus , (straight fin barb locally known as Matemba), a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae that supports a significant fishery sector in Malawi. Barbus paludinosus (Matemba) were dried using open sun drying and solar tent driers. Samples were collected in newly bought polythene bags, well labelled and collected in cooler boxes transported ready for laboratory analysis. One gram (1 g) representative sample was obtained aseptically from the muscle of the fresh and dried straight fin barb (Matemba) samples. The samples were grounded and serial dilutions (10 -1 to 10 -4 ) of the homogenized samples were made using sterile distilled water. Fish samples were analysed for total plate count (TPC), E. coli counts and for pathogenic organisms (Salmonella) following the methods prescribed by (AOAC, 2000). Each analysis was carried out in triplicates. There were significant differences (P < 0.05), with respect to total viable bacterial counts between open sun dried and solar tent dried B. paludinosus (1.6 x 10 6 cfu/g, 1.4 x 10 6 cfu/g, respectively). Open sun dried B. paludinosus harboured significantly higher total viable counts as well as a higher population of Escherichia coli compared to solar tent dried Barbus paludinosus . Overall, bacterial populations were not above the marginally acceptable norms (1 x 10 7 cfu/g) for both processing methods implying that the two methods can be deployable without public health concerns.