CONTROL AND HYGIENIC SAUSAGE PRODUCTION

In Kosovo the sausage production took place many years ago and currently it is a very common meat processing production. This product already is known and desired in many other countries such as: Albania, Turkey, Macedonia, Bulgaria and many other Balkan countries. The sausage is prepared by the minced bovine meat, where according to the recipe are added flavors, nitrates, water and salt. This product is processed and thermally treated on the temperature of 65 - 72°C for 60 minutes. Afterwards it goes through the smoking process and is considered to be consumable within 60 days. The inspections and analytical controls on food industry were always attentive and rigorous in order to prevent the abuse of this traditional product which is very preferable by the consumers. But with all the attention and carefulness still from time to were reported cases of alimentary toxicinfections through the consumption of Kosovo sausage. This important fact served as a motive to apply even more detailed research in regard to analytical control of some microbiological indicators, such as; Mesophillic aerobic bacteria and Salmonella spp. pathogen. We performed our research in one of the meat processing establishments in Kosovo. The samples of ready product were taken for analysis during the period of May – December 2008 and their total number reached to 56 samples. The microbiological analyses were done at the Institute of Food Safety and Veterinary in Tirana, Albania. The results of the research confirmed that at the 24 samples of sausage or (43%) of them were present aerobic mesophile bacteria that exceeds the determined limit on the national standard of Kosovo (1x10^5 cfu/gr). Whereas the microbiological spectrum proves the presence exceeding the norm of aerobic mesophile bacteria, meanwhile at the same samples was not identified the presence of Salmonella spp. pathogen