Evaluation of Enrichment Broths for Enumerating Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Chilled and Frozen Crab Meat.

The ability to detect Vibrio parahaemolyticus in crab meat which had been held at refrigerated and freezing temperatures was determined using three enrichment broths. Glucose-salt-Teepol (GST), Horie-arabinose-ethyl violet (HAE), and water blue-alizarin yellow (WBAY) broths were equally effective in supporting growth of cells which had been held at -18 C. The HAE medium was superior to GST and WBAY for recovering V. parahaemolyticus from crab meat stored at +13 C. Cells were inactivated most rapidly when samples were held at +7 C. Growth of V. parahaemolyticus was observed in crab meat stored at +13 C for 3 days.