Bacterial contamination of the blood cockle (Anadara granosa)

The contamination of cockles by bacteria of faecal origin was monitored during harvesting, at landing sites, and finally at the retail market. The study was carried out in the three major cockle-producing states of Penang, Perak and Selangor. Cockles from the retail markets were found to be the most contaminated with an average FC-MPN/g count of 177 compared with figures of 62 for harvested cockles and 89 for washed cockles. The state of Penang showed the worst contamination having an average FC-MPN/g count of 242 compared with 119 for Perak and 60 for Selangor. Data from harvesting and landing sites for Penang and Perak showed high contamination levels of FC-MPN/g counts of 318 & 153 and 41 & 118 respectively. However, data from Selangor showed corresponding average FC-MPN/g counts of 17 & 13, figures below the Singapore standard. Basically, results of this study emphasized the need to improve the post-harvest handling of cockles and to depurate them prior to marketing