Isolation and Identification of Staphylococcus sp. from Korean Fermented Fish Products

In order to find out if staphylococci occur in significant numbers in Korean fermented fish products, a total of 40 different fermented fish products were collected from different markets in Korea and analyzed for their physico-chemical and microbiological states. The pH, salt concentration and water activity of the products were measured and the total viable cell count and the number of Staphylococcus grown on mannitol salt agar were determined. The identification of the strains of Staphylococcus were made by API Staph Strip and MIS identification kits, and the physiological properties of the identified strains were further characterized by different conventional methods. The pH, salt content and water activity of fermented fish samples varied widely from 4.8 to 7.1, 7.4-28.7$%$ and 0.77-0.84, repectively, depending on the type of product. The total viable cell count varied from $10^4-10^9$ cfu/ml, and most of the samples had $10^5-10^6$ cfu/ml No correlation was found between the viable cell count and the pH, NaCl concentration and water activity of the samples. Among the 35 colonies identified as Staphylococcus strains by the identification kits, S. xylosus was the most frequently occurring strain marking 17, and S. warneri was 8, S. epidermidis 4 and S. cohnii 2. S. hominis, S. saprophyticus, S. haemolyticus and S. aureus were also identified once each. In some samples (K-3, P-6, K-8, G-5 and G-10), 2-3 different species of Staphylococcus were found. Considering the region of sampling, among the 10 samples from Kunsan 5 were identified as S. warneri, while in the other regions S. xylosus was predominant. Although the physiological characteristics of the identified strains were generally consistent with those in Bergey's Manual, some discrepances were also observed. All the strains were highly salt tolerant, growing in the media containing over 18$%$ NaCl. All the strains except S. aureus (G-11) showed negative in hemolysis activity, plasma coagulation and DNase tests. All the strains including S. aureus (G-11) showed negative in enterotoxin test.