Microbiological Composition, Processing and Consumer's Characteristics of Adjuevan, a Traditional Ivorian Fermented Fish

Adjuevan is a traditional Ivorian fermented fish product. This study which lasted 6 months was carried out on the unique collective processing site of adjuevan production in Abidjan, to determine the microbiological composition and the processors and processing characteristics of this product. Only nonnative women (100%) between 30 and 60 years old (93.33%) processed adjuevan. Ninety eight percent of housework people know adjuevan and 96% consumed the fermented fish, but only 8% know the processing techniques, and 22.66% the processing site in the communities surveyed. Adjuevan is used for its flavour (73.33%). The mean pH value, the moisture and protein contents of adjuevan were 5.31%, 68.91% and 49.27% respectively. The total aerobic count, Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms, yeast-mould, and lactic acid bacteria were counted at the average of 8.0 105, 5.27 102, 102, 34 and 104 cfu/g, respectively. A total of 38 isolates of Gram negative bacteria belonging to 7 genera were obtained from the adjuevan samples analyzed. Enterobacter sp. (9.72%) was the most predominant Enterobacteria. Pseudomonas sp. as found in 8.33% of the analyzed samples and Klebsiella sp. in 5.55%, Pseudomonas fluorescens and E. coli (4.16%), Salmonella sp. and Serratia marcescens (2.77%). Salmonella arizonae and Proteus sp. were less represented (1.38%). The unhygienic handling of the fish can affect the ultimate quality of the fermented fish. Consuming such contaminated products can represent a public health problem.