Assessment of bacterial contamination of beef in slaughterhouses in Owerri zone, Imo state, Nigeria

Abstract

Bacterial contamination of beef in three abattoirs in the Owerri zone, Imo state Nigeria was assessed for 10 weeks. Experimental design and simple random sampling techniques were adopted in this study. A total of 300 samples (different portions of meat nn = 180 and meats contact surfaces n = 120) were collected in the selected abattoirs. The mean total viable and coliform floor counts (3.29 × 109 and 3.78 × 105 cfu/cm2), hand (3.85 × 108 and 8.68 × 103 cfu/cm2) and table (3.85 × 1010 and 2.67 × 106 cfu/cm2) of Afor-ogbe were significantly (p<0.05) higher than the others but lower than the knives (3.7 × 107 and 8.68 × 103 cfu/cm2) of the Somachi abattoir respectively. The cow neck of the Afor-ogbe abattoir had significantly (p<0.05) the highest mean total viable and coliform counts (3.85 × 109 and 7.8 × 105 cfu/g), respectively. The highest numbers of E. coli (43.50%) and S. aureus (40.00%) were isolated from meat contact surfaces in the Afor-Ogbe abattoir. The hygiene and sanitary conditions of the abattoirs were below standard, resulting in poor quality of meat production, which is not safe for human consumption.