Value Addition--Hot Smoked Lake Victoria Sardine (Rastrineobola argentea) for Human Consumption

Various traditional methods are employed to preserve and process Rastrineobola argentea locally known as dagaa (sardines) an indigenous fish species of Lake Victoria. The widely used known customarily dagaa and dagaa products preservation methods include sundrying, smoking, salting and various combinations of these. The advantages of smoking dagaa are manifold. Fish smoking prolong shelf life, enhances flavour and increases acceptability and utilization of dagaa. Customarily traditional dagaa processing techniques used by fishers for example sun drying dagaa direct on the unhygienic sand, rocks and or grasses significantly contribute to poor dagaa products. Awareness of the shortcomings of traditional ovens had stimulated development work on new and improved smoking ovens such as Chorkor oven and Nyegezi models ovens for various reasons. In the light of lessons learned from the constraints and disadvantages associated with earlier smoking techniques, an improved dagaa smoking oven, the modified Altona for hot smoking was introduced. Hot smoking means curing fish by smoking at a temperature of 70-80°C at some stage in the process in order to cook the flesh; hot smoked fish products do not require further cooking before consumption. Unlike other fishes, dagaa are readily available at cheaper price. However, smoked dagaa products have not been promoted in the country wide as well for the region and overseas markets. This may be contributed by the main middlemen traders for sun dried dagaa products who are not willing to opt to trade on smoked dagaa products at domestic markets. Because of the high quality of smoked dagaa compile the hygienic environment for storage and selling. This further enables hygienic handling during trading. If smoked dagaa and dagaa products are properly and hygienically handled extends shelf life. The quality of smoked fish is primarily linked to processing and post processing procedures

Occurrence of Escherichia coli in Brassica rapa L. chinensis irrigated with low quality water in urban areas of Morogoro, Tanzania

Academic Journal Vol. 15(49), pp. 2772-2777,Low quality water has become valuable resource with restricted or unrestricted use in food production depending on its quality. This study has quantified the occurrence of Escherichia coli in Brassica rapa L. chinensis (Chinese cabbage) vegetables and low quality irrigation water. A total of 106 samples including Chinese cabbage (69) and water (37) were collected. The E. coli were cultured in petri film selective E. coli plates at 44°C. The Chinese cabbage irrigated with river water at Fungafunga area indicated significantly (P<0.001) high prevalence 86% (n=21, 0.00-4.10 log cfu/g) of E. coli than those irrigated with treated wastewater at Mazimbu 10% (n=48, 0.00-1.36 log cfu/g). The mean counts of E. coli in untreated wastewater ranged from 4.59 to 5.56 log cfu/mL, while in treated wastewater was from 0.54 to 1.05 log cfu/mL and in river water it was 2.40 log cfu/mL. Treated wastewater of the quality found in this study could be used for food production

Occurrence of Escherichia coli in Brassica rapa L. chinensis irrigated with low quality water in urban areas of Morogoro, Tanzania

Low quality water has become valuable resource with restricted or unrestricted use in food production depending on its quality. This study has quantified the occurrence of Escherichia coli in Brassica rapa L. chinensis (Chinese cabbage) vegetables and low quality irrigation water. A total of 106 samples including Chinese cabbage (69) and water (37) were collected. The E. coli were cultured in petri film selective E. coli plates at 44°C. The Chinese cabbage irrigated with river water at Fungafunga area indicated significantly (P&lt;0.001) high prevalence 86% (n=21, 0.00-4.10 log cfu/g) of E. coli than those irrigated with treated wastewater at Mazimbu 10% (n=48, 0.00-1.36 log cfu/g). The mean counts of E. coli in untreated wastewater ranged from 4.59 to 5.56 log cfu/mL, while in treated wastewater was from 0.54 to 1.05 log cfu/mL and in river water it was 2.40 log cfu/mL. Treated wastewater of the quality found in this study could be used for food production.Key words: Agricultural irrigation, Chinese cabbage, incidental inputs, river water, wastewater

Characterization of Salmonella spp. from wastewater used for food production in Morogoro, Tanzania

World J Microbiol Biotechnol (2017) 33:42Wastewater use for crop irrigation and aquaculture is commonly practiced by communities situated close to wastewater treatment ponds. The objective of this study was to characterize Salmonella spp. and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among isolates from wastewater and Tilapia fish. A total of 123 Salmonella spp. isolates were isolated from 52 water and 21 fish intestinal samples. Genotyping of Salmonella spp. isolates was done by Pulsed-field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) technique. A total of 123 Salmonella spp. isolates represented 13 different serovars and 22 PFGE groups. Salmonella serovars showed resistance to 8 out of 14 antimicrobials; sulfamethaxazole (94%), streptomycin (61%), tetracycline (22%), ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid (17%), trimethoprim (11%); gentamycin and chloramphenicol (6%). Salmonella Kentucky, S. Chandans, S. Durban and S. Kiambu showed multiple antimicrobial resistance to 7, 6 and 3 antimicrobials, respectively. This study has demonstrated that wastewater at the study sites is contaminated with Salmonella spp. which are resistant to common antimicrobials used for treatment of diseases in humans. Wastewater may, therefore, contaminate pristine surface water bodies and foodstuffs including fish and irrigated crops as well as food handlers

Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae O1 in vegetables and fish raised in wastewater irrigated fields and stabilization ponds during a non-cholera outbreak period in Morogoro, Tanzania:an environmental health study

BACKGROUND: Cholera, one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, remains rampant and frequent in Tanzania and thus hinders existing control measures. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the occurrence of toxigenic Vibrio cholerae O1 in wastewater, fish and vegetables during a non-outbreak period in Morogoro, Tanzania. METHODS: From October 2014 to February 2015, 60 wastewater samples, 60 fish samples from sewage stabilization ponds and 60 wastewater irrigated vegetable samples were collected. Samples were cultured for identification of V. cholerae using conventional bacteriological methods. Isolates were confirmed as V. cholerae by detection of the outer membrane protein gene (ompW) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Isolates were further tested for antibiotic susceptibility and presence of virulence genes including, cholera enterotoxin gene (ctx), the toxin co-regulated pilus gene (tcpA) and the haemolysin gene (hlyA). RESULTS: The prevalence of V. cholerae in wastewater, vegetables and fish was 36.7, 21.7 and 23.3 %, respectively. Two isolates from fish gills were V. cholerae O1 and tested positive for ctx and tcpA. One of these contained in addition the hlyA gene while five isolates from fish intestines tested positive for tcpA. All V. cholerae isolates were resistant to ampicillin, amoxicillin and some to tetracycline, but sensitive to gentamicin, chloramphenicol, and ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that toxigenic and drug-resistant V. cholerae O1 species are present and persist in aquatic environments during a non-cholera outbreak period. This is of public health importance and shows that such environments may be important as reservoirs and in the transmission of V. cholerae O1