Bacterial Evaluation of Mixgrill Meals Served at Hotels Level in Alexandria Province

Abstract

Mixgrill meal is considered the most popular meal served in hotels and restaurants of Alexandria province. A total of 96 random samples of mixgrill meals (before marinating and after cooking) represented by raw minced meat, grilled kofta, raw chicken and grilled shish-tawook were collected from three different categories of touristic Egyptian hotels in Alexandria province named A, B and C (32 of each hotel , 8 samples of each product /hotel). The samples collected during the period extended from February to September 2017 and subjected to bacterial evaluation. Our results indicated that the highest mean values of Aerobic Plate Count (APC), Enterobacteriaceae Count (EC), Coliforms Count (CC), and Staphylococcus aureus Count (SAC) in examined raw minced meat samples were found in hotel C (1.13 x 106 ± 0.45 x 106), hotel A (1.32 x 105 ± 0.73 x 105), hotel B (7.34 x 104 ± 3.33 x 104) and hotel C (6.17 x105 ± 2.37 x105) for each count, respectively. Also, the highest counts in grilled kofta samples were found in hotel C (3.71 x 104 ± 1.45x 104), hotel B (1.92 x 104 ± 0.79 x 104), hotel C (2.50 x 104 ± 0.50 x 104) and hotel B (1.98 x104 ± 0.60 x104), respectively. On the other hand, all highest counts in raw chicken meat samples were present in hotel A; (3.79 x 105 ± 0.84 x 105), (1.73 x 105 ± 0.86 x 105), (7.62 x 104 ± 3.76 x 104) and (1.73 x105 ± 0.46 x105), while in grilled shish-tawook samples the highest counts were found in hotel B (1.68 x104 ± 0.39 x104), hotel C (1.10 x 104 ±0.90 x 104), hotel C (8.25 x103 ±6.75 x 103) and hotel A (1.13 x 104 ±0.96 x104) for each count, respectively. In addition, the detection percent of coagulase positive Staphylococcus aureus in the totally examined raw minced meat, grilled kofta, raw chicken and grilled shish-tawook samples were 25%, 16.7%, 8.3% and 25%, and that for enteropathogenic E. coli were 58.3%, 12.5%, 29.2% and 16.7%, while the incidence of Salmonellae were 8.3%, 0%, 12.5% and 4.2%, respectively. Serological identification of enteropathogenic E. coli isolated from the totally examined raw minced meat and chicken samples revealed the presence of different serotypes including; EHEC (O26, O111:K58, O26:K60), EPEC (O55:K59, O86:K61, O119:K69), ETEC (O128:K67, O125:K70) and EIEC (O124:K7), while isolated Salmonellae could be serotyped as; S. Typhimurium, S. Enteritidis, S. Kentasucky, S. Virchow and S. Chester. On the other hand, isolates of examined RTE grilled kofta and shish-tawook samples identified as EHEC (O111:K58), EPEC (O119:K69, O86:K61), ETEC (O127:K63) and EIEC (O124:K72) meanwhile S. Enteritidis could be identified from salmonellae isolates of shish tawook samples of hotel (A). So, the present study concluded that mixgrill meals could be subjected for contamination with high bacterial loads and/or such pathogens along their processing steps and may constitute a public health hazard. Recommendations for strict hygienic measures that should be applied to produce safe and high quality mixgrill meals were fully discussed.