Assessment of Salmonela, escherichia coli, enterobacteriaceae and aerobic colony counts contamination levels during the beef slaughter process
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Date
2016
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Abstract
The study was conducted to determine the level of Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Enterobacteriaceae and aerobic colony counts (ACCs) contamination in beef carcass, equipment, slaughtermen hands and water at selected stages in abattoirs. Cattle carcasses were sampled at four sites (rump, neck, flank and brisket) from a
low throughput (LTA) (n5240) and high throughput (HTA) (n5384) abattoirs. Using conventional biochemical tests, HTA yielded significantly higher ACC (5.2log CFU/cm2), E. coli (2.6 log CFU/cm2) and Enterobacteriaceae (2.9 log CFU/cm2) mean scores after skinning and evisceration. Washing and chilling did not cause
any significant (P>0.05) changes in bacterial counts. This implies use of non-potable water and poor chilling methods. Salmonella was not detected on all sampled carcasses. Overall, slaughtermen hands and equipment in the dirty area yielded more bacterial counts compared to clean area from both abattoirs. Therefore, these findings show that the equipment, slaughtermen hands and water are sources of contamination during the slaughter process.
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Keywords
Salmonela, Escherichia coli, Enterobacteriaceae
Citation
Nyamakwere, F., Muchenje, V., Mushonga, B., et al. (2016), Assessment of Salmonela, escherichia coli, enterobacteriaceae and aerobic colony counts contamination levels during the beef slaughter process. Journal of Food Safety, 1-9.