ISOLATION OF Staphylococcus aureus FROM FISH MEAT AND FISH CONTAMINATING SOURCES, AND ASSESSMENT OF FISH HAN DLING PRACTICE IN HARAMAYA DISTRICT, EAST HARARGHE ZONE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Fish, being a highly perishable commodity, demands proper post-harvest management and re frigeration, or ice to improve and maintain its safety and quality. However, Fish is processed under unhygienic practices like washing filleted fish with lake water, indiscriminate at pro cessing. A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2022 to August 2022 to isolate of S. aureus in fish meat and fish meat contact surfaces and to assess fish meat safety practices along the chain at Haramaya district fish meat sellers. From the district, three sites were purposively selected. In total 558 swab samples from fish meat, fishermen's hands, workers' hands at sellers, knives, cutting boards, boats, nets and carrying sacks were randomly collected by swab-kit, icebox, and glove method. From 72 workers, data were collected using semi-structured ques tionnaire interviews and 24 personnel were observed to assess the hygienic practice of partici pants involved in fish meat along the marketing chain. Results of the present study showed that out of 558 samples, 284 (50.89%) were positive for S. aureus. Haramaya Lake (54.30%) fol lowed by raw fish meat selling (50%) and cooked fish meat (48.38%), 101, 93 and 90 respec tively. However, there was no significant difference among these three sites (P>0.05). Among the potential source of contamination, a significant difference was observed only in raw fish meat selling in which the prevalence of S. aureus was significantly higher in worker's hand swabs (70.9%) followed by cutting board swabs (66.6%) and balance weight swab (55%) (P<0.05). Regarding the observational assessment of personal hygiene and sanitation of work ers of fish meats (83.3%) did not wear a face mask and (75%) of them didn’t frequently wash their equipment with detergent followed by (66.6%) washing fish meat after evisceration not good. In the present study occurrence of S. aureus in raw fish meat selling concerning its poten tial source of contamination (workers' hand swabs, cutting board swabs \and balance weight swabs) is significantly high. Therefore, fish meat sellers should follow good hygiene practice (GHP) guidelines and immediate steps should be taken to train persons engaged in the fish trade on good sanitary and hygienic practices in fish handling