Microbial Safety and Quality of Fresh Beef Supplied to Gullele Sub-City Market, Addis Ababa
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Date
2017-02
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Food-borne pathogens are the leading cause of illness and death in developing countries. The widespread habit of raw beef consumption is a potential cause of food-borne illnesses in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was initiated to evaluate the microbiological quality and safety of beef samples supplied to Gullele sub-city Addis Ababa and also to assess the associated risk factors in handling the product. A questionnaire survey was used to answer some questions concerning the current status of food hygiene and sanitation practiced in abattoir and butchery shops. Fresh beef samples from different sources and swab samples from contact surface were collected for microbial analysis, following standard methods. This study revealed that the mean microbial counts of total aerobic mesophilic, staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae, total coliform, fecal coliform, aerobic spore and yeasts and molds of the abattoir were 4.788, 3.287, 4.882, 4.763, 4.072, 1.476, 4.024 log cfu/100cm2, respectively. Likewise, the mean microbial counts of total aerobic mesophilic, Staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae, total coliform, fecal coliform, aerobic spore and yeasts and molds of the butcher shops were as great as 6.4, 4.8, 5.98, 5.9, 5.5, 1.84 and 5.3log cfu/g, respectively. Microbial load on meat was found to be low in the carcass sample compared to the morning and afternoon samples from butcher shops. The mean microbial count of total aerobic mesophilic, staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae, total coliform, fecal coliform, aerobic spore and yeasts and molds of the contact surface samples were > 6.3, 3.7, 4.8, 5.3, 4.4, 1.8 and 4.9 log cfu/cm2, respectively. The aerobic mesophilic flora was dominated by Enterobacteriaceae (29.5%) followed by Staphylococci ssp (26.67%) and Bacillus spp (17.4%). The prevalence of E. coli, Salmonella and S. aureus in meat samples were 29.55%, 3.4% and 28.41%, respectively. The isolated food-borne pathogens were resistant mostly to Penicillin (>60%), Amoxicillin (>40%) and Ampicillin (>40%). The overall facilities, slaughtering techniques, cold chain management, handling of slaughter cattle in the abattoir and personal hygiene, environmental sanitation, knowledge on food handling and educational status of the butcher shops ‘workers were among the predominant factors of contamination of the beef. Therefore, implementations of GMP and HACCP principles as strategy should be adapted to control pathogenic microbes which pose public health risks.
Keywords: beef samples; dominant microflora; microbial counts; microbial contamination
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Keywords
beef samples; dominant microflora; microbial counts; microbial contamination