Bacteriological Study of Frozen Meat in Taif Governorate m Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study was carried out on I25 random samples of frozen meat collected aseptically from different shops and supermarkets distributed in Taif governorate. All samples were subjected to bacteriological examination for aerobic plate counts of Enterobactcriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Lactobacillaceae, and for isolation and identification the strains isolated bacteriologically. The aerobic plate counts ranged from 3 x 10 4 to 107 cfu.g-1. The couan for Entcrobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus- aurcus, and Lactobacillaceae were (5 x IO 2to 2 x 1O 6cfu.g-1), (6 xl0 3 to 10 6 cfu.g-1), (6 x1O 3 to 3x lO 6cfu.g-1 ), respectively. The bacterial counts of frozen chicken meat ranged from (3xl0 3) to 20 x10 5/ cm-2. The number of strains isolated from frozen meat samples were 167, 67, 79, 76, and 87 for mutton, camel meats, imported beef, local chicken meats and imported chicken meat respectively. The percentages of bacterial isolates from frozen mutton were higher than those from frozen camel meat and beef. The frequency of isolation of different bacterial strains from imported frozen chicken meat was higher than that from local frozen chicken meat.