Assessment of microbiological contamination levels in processed meat products from markets in southern Hue city

Abstract

Processed meat products are commonplace foods that are becoming increasingly popular in consumers' daily diets. Therefore, it is highly essential to assess the extent of microbiological contamination in the samples of processed meat products from markets in a bid to provide updated data of microbiological contamination to relevant agencies and local consumers as part of the current state of food safety and hygiene in the locality. A survey on microbiological contamination of processed meat products was conducted on samples collected from some markets in Southern Hue city. The 90 samples of three groups of fermented meat, packaged and non-packaged meat were analyzed. The results showed that, 100% of the samples were contaminated with aerobic microorganisms, Coliforms and Escherichia coli, in which 100% of the samples of Coliforms and E. coli did not meet the quality norms set by the Ministry of Health. The total aerobic microorganisms, Coliforms and E. coli ranged from 2.7 × 103 to 2.8 × 109 CFU/g, 1.1 × 104 to 1.5 × 108 MPN/g and 1.1 × 102 to 9.2 × 105 MPN/g, respectively. No presence of Clostridium perfringens or Staphylococcus aureus was detected in the examined samples.