Bacterial populations associated with meat from the deboning room of a high throughput red meat abattoir

Developing countries are faced with high incidences of food poisoning outbreaks, with obvious economic consequences. In highly perishable foodstuffs such as fresh red meat the threat of food poisoning is particularly intense. In this study, red meat samples were collected from a deboning room of a high throughput abattoir. The samples were analysed for the presence of Bacillus cereus., Staphylococcus aureus., Pseudomonas spp., Listeria monocytogenes., Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. The aerobic plate counts as well as Enterobacteriaceae were also enumerated. Almost without exception the counts exceeded the microbiological guidelines for raw meat as proposed by the South African Department of Health. The average B. cereus count over the sampling period was 8.32 × 103 cfu, g −1, for S. aureus and Pseudomonas spp. 1.72 × 105 and 1.7 × 105 cfu g−1 respectively and for E. coli 3.4 × 105 cfu g−1. Sixty percent of the samples were positive for presumptive Salmonella spp. while 52% of the samples tested positive for the presence of L. monocytogenes. The aerobic plate and Enterobacteriaceae counts were 1.7 × 107 and 4.6 × 106 cfu g−1, respectively. The data highlighted the need for a more systematic approach to ensuring safe food through implementing quality control methods to prevent the entry and proliferation of pathogens in meat and meat products, especially during processes with a high degree of handling, such as deboning.