E. aerogenes inoculated at 1 102 CFU/g or 1 105 CFU/g grew
rapidly in tuna dumpling stuffing in 6 h during storage at 25 and
37 C. The bacterial number reached 9.2 log CFU/g in 48 h in low
spiked sample, and 9.4 log CFU/g in 48 h in high spiked sample
at storage temperature of 37 C (Fig. 1). At 25 C, E. aerogenes grew
rapidly and reached in 48 h of storage was 7.3 log CFU/g in low
spiked sample and 9.0 log CFU/g in high spiked sample. Enumeration
of bacterial numbers with these samples was terminated at
48 h for 25 C and 37 C due to the production of spoilage odours.
The low and high spiked samples stored at 15 C supported gradual
increases of the bacteria until they reached about 7.3 log CFU/g and
8.2 log CFU/g after 96 h, respectively. The growth of E. aerogenes
was inhibited in low or high spiked samples stored at 4 C up to
3 d but increased thereafter (Fig. 1). According to the statistical
analysis, the bacterial counts of low or high spiked samples at
37 C for the same storage time were significantly higher than
those of other storage temperatures (P < 0.05).