BACTERIAL QUALITY OF BEEF CARCASSES AND SANITARY CONDITION OF BUTCHER’S SHOPS IN BASRAH CITY

Abstract

The microbial quality of beef carcasses, sanitary conditions in butchers’ shops and possibility of the presence of human pathogens associated with food poisoning outbreaks such as salmonella and staphylococci was investigated in 160 samples of beef carcasses, cutting blocks, knives, workers’ hands and air (32 samples for each) during January and ended in June. All samples examined bacteriologically for aerobic plate count, total coliform count, Staphylococcus aureus count and an attempt was made for isolation and identification Salmonella spp. This study have shown that there was a gradual increment in the count of all microorganisms starting in January and ending with June, the minimum mean of aerobic plate count of beef carcasses was 27.32x104 cfu/cm2 in January where as the maximum mean was 79.94x104 cfu/cm2 in June, the minimum mean of total coliform count was 0.67x103 cfu/cm2 in January and the maximum mean was 1.16x103 cfu/cm2 in June. The minimum mean of Staphylococcus aureus count was 7.36x102 cfu/cm2 in January whereas the maximum mean was 27.11x102 cfu/cm2 in June.The same results were observed in the cutting blocks, knives, and workers’ hands concerning the minimum and maximum mean count of the studied bacteria. Salmonella could not be isolated from any examined samples and the percentage of Coagulase positive Staph. aureus which were isolated from beef carcasses, cutting blocks, knives and workers’ hands samples was 100%.

Keywords

Bacteria, Beef, Butchers.