Determination of the effects of different vinegar mixtures and the time of exposure on the microbial count of shucked oysters

The study is a quantitative analysis of the microbial contents of oysters after being subjected to two different curing periods involving the use of three different vinegar mixtures namely-vinegar only, vinegar with chili and salt, and vinegar with ginger. The oysters were purchased from the Arranque market located along C.M. Recto Avenue, Manila from the months of August to December. A control solution was included to serve as comparison for the effectiveness of the different vinegar mixtures. The control solution used was a mixture of artifiical seawater which serves the purpose of simulating the natural, saline environment where the oysters grow and thrive. Using a 95 % confidence interval for all the statistical analyses performed, the results show that the different vinegar mixtures exerted a significant decrease in the microbial load of the oysters compared to the control. However, there was no significant difference among the results of the different vinegar mixtures. The results also showed that there was no significant difference between the two time intervals (15 minutes and 2 hours), indicating that the longer curing period of two hours did not cause a considerable decrease in the CFU/gram compared to that of the 15 minute curing period. Furthermore, the two factors of time and kind of vinegar mixtures employed in the study showed no interaction, meaning there was no change in the trend of the counts obtained from the three vinegar mixtures regardless of the time interval used