Microbiological Quality of Raw Meat Sold in Tokat Province

Abstract

According to World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 600 million people fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year. Although various foods can serve as sources of foodborne illness, meat has been at the forefront of societal concerns in recent years. Meat is source of some foodborne pathogens which have an important role on human health. In this study, it was aimed to examine the microbiological quality of raw bovine meat samples sold in Tokat province and to evaluate the results in the context of food safety. For this purpose, 18 raw meat samples purchased from butchers and markets were analyzed for total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, total psychrophilic aerobic bacteria, yeasts-molds, lactic acid bacteria, B. cereus, S. aureus, C. perfringens, total coliform, and fecal coliform. The presence of E. coli, E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. were also investigated in these samples. The lowest and highest values determined for the parameters were as follows: total mesophilic aerobic bacteria 1.46×104-1.26×107 CFU/g, total psychrotrofic aerobic bacteria 1.01×104-2.65×106 CFU/g, yeasts-molds 3.00×103-1.70×104 CFU/g, lactic acid bacteria 2.70×103-3.60×104 CFU/g, B. cereus Ë‚102-7.20×104 CFU/g, S. aureus 2.60×103-2.57×105 CFU/g, C. perfringens Ë‚102-9.20×103 CFU/g, total coliform 3.80×101-2.90×104 MPN/g, and fecal coliform <0.30-9.30×103 MPN/g. Salmonella ssp., E. coli O157:H7, and L. monocytogenes were not detected in the meat samples.