Broekaert, K.

Devlieghere, F.

Herman, L.

Heyndrickx, M.

Vlaemynck, G.

Open Marine Archive

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THE MICROBIOTA OF COMMON SHRIMPS (CRANGON CRANGON) 
FROM CATCH TO CONSUMER 
Broekaert K.1, M. Heyndrickx1, S. Hoffman2, F. Devlieghere3, L. Herman1 and G. Vlaemynck1 
1 Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Technology and Food Science, 
Brusselsesteenweg 370, 9090 Melle, Belgium 
Email: Katrien.Broekaert@ilvo.vlaanderen.be; Geertrui.Vlaemynck@ilvo.vlaanderen.be 
2 Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Animal Science – Fisheries, Ankerstraat 1, 
8400 Oostende, Belgium 
3 Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Laboratory of Food Preservation and Food 
Microbiology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 
Ghent, Belgium 
 
The common shrimp (Crangon crangon) is a typical product of the Belgian fishery that has recently 
received a regional product label, “Purus”. “Purus” shrimps are exclusively caught in the North Sea 
by Belgian trawlers and prepared by Flemish fishermen predominantly in a traditional way; without 
preservatives, colorants or other additives and landed within 12h after catch.  
Fresh seafood such as shrimps are very sensitive to spoilage causing off-odours and off-flavours. 
The main factors limiting shelf life are enzyme and microbial activities. Freshly caught shrimps are 
naturally contaminated with a diversity of microorganisms. The presence of these microorganisms 
depends among other things on the environment, water temperature, area of catch and handling 
and processing procedures (Jay, 1986). Most of the microorganisms on fresh seafood and during 
aerobic ice storage are psychrotrophic gram-negative, rod-shaped, strict aerobic or facultative 
anaerobic microorganisms of marine origin such as the genera Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, 
Moraxella/Acinetobacter, Shewanella, Flavobacterium or the family Vibrionaceae (Liston, 1980). 
 
In this study the microbial population of cooked and peeled shrimps without preservatives was 
investigated during storage at different temperatures until spoiled.  
Shrimps were caught, sorted, washed and cooked on board according to normal fishery procedures. 
At these different stages of processing, shrimps were collected and put on ice for transport. 
Microbiological analyses started one day after catch. In order to study the effect of the shell, some 
cooked shrimps were peeled manually as sterile as possible in the laboratory. From all different 
stages of processing, shrimps were stored on ice (0 ±0.5°C) and at 7.5±0.5°C (extreme refrigerator 
conditions) for several days. Microbiological analysis was performed at regular time intervals during 
storage. The study of the microbiota was done on several general and group-specific growth media. 
Molecular techniques [rep-PCR (GTG)
5
 analysis, 16S rRNA and gyrB gene sequencing] were used for 
clustering and identification. 
DGGE analysis based on the V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene was performed from plateswabs of the 
different media and direct from the shrimp matrix to visualise shifts in the total microbial 
community on shrimps under different conditions. 
 
The results showed that the boiling process leads to a two 10log decrease in microbial count. In 
addition, a steep decrease in bacterial count was noticed after peeling. Results of total counts 
during storage showed that cooked and peeled shrimps stored at the highest temperature were 
microbiologically spoiled (>108 cfu/g) after 7 days, while iced shrimps had a shelf life of 12 days.  
DGGE analysis showed clear shifts in the total microbial community under different conditions. 
Analysis of the microbiota using 16S rRNA gene sequencing limited the identification of the 
microorganisms to genus level. Further identification to species level was performed by sequencing 
analysis of the household gyrase B subunit (gyrB) gene and phylogenetic tree analysis. Using gyrB 
sequence analysis, several species of especially two marine genera (Pseudoalteromonas and 
Psychrobacter) were identified. These genera were dominant under practically all conditions tested 
(cooked, peeled, ice stored, temperature abuse) and were specific for seafood without preservatives. 
 
References 
 
Jay J.M. 1986. Modern food microbiology. (3rd Ed.). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. 
Liston J. 1980. Microbiology in fishery science. p.138-157. In: J.J.Connel (Ed.). Advances in fish 
science and technology. Surrey, England: Fishing News Book Ltd. Farnham. 


The microbiota of common shrimps (<i>Crangon crangon</i>) from catch to consumer

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