Skip to main content
Log in

Amino acid-decarboxylase activity in bacteria associated with Mediterranean hake spoilage

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
European Food Research and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We examined the amino acid-decarboxylase activity of bacteria isolated throughout the ice storage of Mediterranean hake. Pseudomonas was the main microbial group in the fresh samples. Its number increased by up to 2 logarithmic units during the storage and 20% of the isolates showed the ability to produce putrescine. Shewanella putrefaciens was the most prolific organism and became the dominant microbial group on day 6 of storage. It also had the highest proportion of aminogenic isolates and the strongest decarboxylase potential as a tyramine- and cadaverine-producing microorganism. A competitive procedure in biogenic amine production seems to have occurred when trimethylamine oxide was available in the culture medium. The abundance of Enterobacteriaceae increased gradually throughout the storage but never reached high counts and their isolates produced small amounts of cadaverine only. Although the counts of micrococci and staphylococci were considerably high, only two isolates were ornithine-decarboxylase positive. Neither lactic acid bacteria nor enterococci were positive.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Fernández-Salguero J, Mackie IM (1987) Int J Food Sci Technol 22:358–390

    Google Scholar 

  2. Mariné-Font A, Vidal-Carou MC, Izquierdo-Pulido M, Veciana-Nogués MT, Hernández-Jover T (1995) Ann Falsif Expert Chim Toxicol 88:119–140

    Google Scholar 

  3. Hálász A, Barath A, Simon-Sakardi L, Holzapfel W (1994) Trends Food Sci Technol 5:42–49

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bover-Cid S, Holzapfel WH (1999) Int J Food Microbiol 53:33–41

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Stenström IM, Molin G (1990) J Appl Bacteriol 68:601–618

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Mackie IM, Pirie L, Ritchie AH, Yamanaka H (1997) Food Chem 60:291–295

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ruíz-Capillas C, Moral A (2001) J Food Sci 66:1030–1032

    Google Scholar 

  8. Veciana-Nogués MT, Mariné-Font A, Vidal-Carou MC (1997) J Agric Food Chem 45:2036–2041

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Engelbrecht K, Jooste PJ, Prior BA (1996) J Food Sci Nutr 8:60–65

    Google Scholar 

  10. Hernández-Herrero M, Roig-Sagués AX, Rodríguez-Jerez JJ, Mora-Ventura MT (1999) J Food Prot 62: 509–514

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Dalgaard P (1995) J Food Microbiol 26:305–317

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Jorgensen BR, Huss HH (1989) Int J Food Microbiol 9:51–62

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Gram L (1995) Quality and quality changes in fresh fish. 195 pp. FAO Fisheries Technical paper 348

  14. Molenaar D, Bosscher J, Brink BT, Driessen A, Konings W (1993) J Bacteriol 175:2864–2870

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Bearson S, Bearson B, Foster J (1997) FEMS Microbiol Lett 147:173–180

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Pascual-Anderson MR (2000) Microbiología alimentaria. Metodología analítica para alimentos y bebidas. Díaz de Santos, Madrid

  17. Gram L, Trolle G, Huss HH (1987) Int J Food Microbiol 4:65–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Veciana-Nogués MT, Hernández-Jover T, Marine-Font A, Vidal-Carou MC (1995) J AOAC Int 78:1045–1049

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Baixas-Nogueras S, Bover-Cid S, Vidal-Carou MC, Veciana-Nogués MT, Mariné-Font A (2001) J Agric Food Chem 49:1681–1686

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Koutsoumanis K, Nychas G (1999) Appl Environ Microbiol 65:698–706

  21. Ryser ET, Marth EH, Taylor SL (1984) J Food Prot 47:378–380

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Silva MV, Pinho O, Ferreira I, Plestilová L, Gibbs P (2002) Food Contam 13:457–461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. López-Caballero ME, Sánchez-Fernández JA, Moral A (2001) Int J Food Microbiol 64:277–287

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Lakshmanan R, Shakila RJ, Jeyasekaran G (2002) Food Microbiol 19:617–625

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Middlebrooks BL, Toom PM, Douglas WL, Harrison RE, McDowell S (1988) J Food Sci 53:1024–1029

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Baixas-Nogueras S, Bover-Cid S, Vidal-Carou MC, Veciana-Nogués MT (2001) J Food Sci 66:83–88

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Taylor SL, Sumner SS (1987) Determination of histamine, putrescine and cadaverine. In: Kramer DE, Liston J (eds) Seafood quality determination. Elsevier, New York, pp 235–245

  28. López-Sabater EI Rodríguez-Jerez JJ, Hernández-Herrero M, Roig-Sagués AX, Mora-Ventura MT (1995) J Food Prot 59:167–174

    Google Scholar 

  29. Du WX, Lin CM, Phu AT, Cornell JA, Marshall MR, Wei CI (2002) J Food Sci 67:292–300

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Baixas-Nogueras S, Bover-Cid S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Nunes ML, Vidal-Carou MC (2003) J Food Sci 68:1067–1071

  31. Ruíz-Capillas C, Moral A (1992) Eur Food Res Technol 214:476–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the European Commission (project ref. FAIR CT.37.3253) and by the Comissió Interdepartamental de Recerca i Innovació Tecnològica (CIRIT, 2001SGR00132) of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Carmen Vidal-Carou.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Baixas-Nogueras, S., Bover-Cid, S., Veciana-Nogués, M.T. et al. Amino acid-decarboxylase activity in bacteria associated with Mediterranean hake spoilage. Eur Food Res Technol 217, 164–167 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-003-0730-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-003-0730-3

Keywords

Navigation