Abstract: Total viable bacteria, coliforms, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Salmonella were counted at various stages of enzymatic processing of shrimp sauce. The results indicated that the total bacterial count in fresh shrimps was 3.4×104 CFU/g, and a lower value of 3.0 × 103 CFU/g was observed after washing with ice water. However, the number of total bacteria in shrimps after enzymatic hydrolysis at 50 ℃ for 3 h was increased to 3.7 × 104 CFU/g. Salt addition could obviously inhibit bacterial growth. Sterilization at 100 ℃ for 30 min could effectively kill bacteria in shrimp sauce and the sterilized shrimp sauce showed a total bacterial count of 2.6 × 104 CFU/g. Washing with ice water could cause the coliform count in fresh shrimps to obviously decline from 15 to 3.6 MPN/g. However, enzymatic hydrolysis did not affect coliform count. Salt addition, constant temperature and sterilization could significantly decrease the pollution from coliforms and coliforms in shrimp sauce products were counted to be less than 3.0 MPN/g. Neither Vibrio parahaemolyticus nor Salmonella were detected during the processing of shrimp sauce. Therefore, ice water washing, salt addition and sterilization are critical for the control of total bacteria and coliform counts.

Key words: shrimp sauce, enzymatic hydrolysis, total bacteria, coliform, Vibrio parahaemolyticus