2.2. Microbiological testing
On each day of the storage trial three replicate samples were collected for microbiological analysis. For each replicate, six oysters were aseptically removed from the half shell. The meat and intra-valvular liquor were diluted 1:1 (w/v) with sterile peptone saline solution (PSS) [1% (w/v) Bacto peptone (Oxoid Ltd, Basingstoke, England), 0.85% (w/v) NaCl at pH 7 after sterilisation] and homogenised in a peristaltic homogeniser for 1 min resulting in a 1 in 2 dilution. A 20 g subsample was then further diluted 1:5 with PSS in a sterile stomacher bag and homogenised for 1 min resulting in a 1:10 dilution. Serial decimal dilutions were then prepared as required using 9 mL PSS (Oxoid) as a diluent and inoculated onto various microbiological media.