Develop a depuration system to control bacteria colonized in Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea tissue

Abstract

In the present study, an Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea, depuration system was developed in order to purify and enhance the quality of Asian clam in term of bacterial coliform exposure. Bacterial analysis on Asian clam revealed that the level of bacterial coliform contamination in their tissue is high and proven to be non-suitabl e for human consumption in general. Therefore, a depuration s ystem was developed in the present study to improve the quality of Asian clam. The depuration system is comprised of a glass aquarium equipped with a sponge filter system and water pump. In the depuration system, there was one container possessed Asian clam (n = 100) used fo r bacterial analysis on a weekly basis for 4 consecutive weeks. The container was filled with 10 cm thick sand as the substrate. There were 2 treatments namely the control treatment, and fermented soy pulp (FSP) treatment; where 1 % FSP was mixed homogenously with the sand to serve as feed for the clams. Each treatment was made in triplicates. Total bacteria monitoring was carried out by using plat e count method. The results of the experiment showed that the depuratio n system in the present study was able in enhancing the quality of Asian clam from Class B to Class A within 2 weeks period. The findings of the present study were the first to be reported in the literature concerning the development of Asian clam depuration system in enhancing the clam quality to meet the standard for human consumption.