Abstract: The United States is one of the largest catfish producers in the world. Louisiana is the leading producer of wild-caught catfish. Historically, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspected all seafood products; however, in 2008, Congress moved the inspection of fish in the order Siluriformes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service. Full enforcement of the rule began on 1 September 2017. The present study was conducted to assess the impact of USDA Siluriformes fish regulation on small Louisiana wild-caught catfish processors and to determine the microbiological quality of and Salmonella prevalence in raw fillets. Nine facilities participated in the assessment study. Surveys were conducted before and after full enforcement to identify whether facilities had established prerequisite programs and record keeping associated with sanitation, hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) plans, food defense, and product recall. The processors' attitude about the change in regulations also was analyzed. For analysis of the microbiological quality and Salmonella prevalence, catfish samples were collected once per month for 2 years. Samples were evaluated for aerobic bacteria counts (APC), coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella. The preenforcement survey revealed that only one facility had developed a HACCP plan, but it was not implemented. After 1 year of full enforcement, all the facilities developed and implemented a HACCP plan to process fresh catfish, and 78% of the processors reported a reduction in the amount of catfish processed due to limits in hours of operation and loss of fishermen. For microbiological quality, the mean (±SD) APC and counts of E. coli, coliforms, and S. aureus were 5.01 ± 0.70, 0.58 ± 0.89, 2.16 ± 0.77, and 0.73 ± 1.02 log CFU/g, respectively; 5.3% of the samples was confirmed positive for Salmonella. These findings indicate that after USDA enforcement, facilities improved food safety program documentation; however, the processing practices did not change. The microbial quality of the catfish fillets was within the acceptable levels in accordance with the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods.
Keywords: Hazard analysis and critical control points; Microbial profile; Record keeping; Sanitation standard operational procedures; USDA enforcement.
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