Abstract
Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from tripe purchased from five butcher shops within the Mafikeng Municipality. Samples were subjected to bacteriological examination using standard methods. Mean counts (log10 cfu/g) obtained from bleached and unbleached tripe samples for aerobic plate counts (5.62 and 7.00),Enterobacteriaceae (4.09 and 4.61), Pseudomonas (4.20 and 4.57), lactic acid bacteria (2.15 and 2.35) and Micrococci/Staphylococci (3.82 and 5.61) were noted. Enterobacteriaceae on Violet Red Bile Agar were identified as; Enterobacter spp.,Escherichia spp., Klebsiella spp., Serratia spp., Providencia stuartii (0.85%), Hafnia alvei (7.63%), Citrobacter spp., Salmonella arizonae (3.39%), Erwinia spp. (0.85%), Moellerella wisconsensis (3.39%), Pantoea spp. (0.85%), and Yersinia kristensii(0.85%). A large percentage of Enterobacteriaceae (98.48%) strains tested against nine antibiotics showed resistance to one or more. Some species from the generaSerratia, Enterobacter and Escherichia coli were resistant to seven out of the nine antibiotics. Highest resistance patterns were observed against nalidixic acid (96.4%) and ampicillin (75%). All isolates were susceptible to gentamicin and ciprofloxacin. Inadequate processing of bovine tripe sold at some butcher shops in Mafikeng poses a potential health risk to consumers due to their poor bacteriological quality and high frequency of antibiotic resistant agents. Resistant strains can be passed to the human population via consumption of such products. Key words: Enterobacteriaceae, bacteriological quality, tripe, bleached, unbleached, antibiotic resistance.
Highlights
Tripe is an edible offal obtained from the first two chambers of a cattle's stomach: the rumen and the reticulum
The objectives of the present study were: (1) to assess the microbiological profile of fresh beef tripe sold in five butcher shops in Mafikeng (South Africa); (2) to characterize isolates of Enterobacteriaceae from beef tripe and thereby identify them at genus and species level in order to ascertain which strains are potentially responsible for contamination and spoilage of tripe and; (3) to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of the Enterobacteriaceae strains obtained
The microbiological profile of both bleached and unbleached tripe sold at selected butcher shops in Mafikeng was evaluated
Summary
Tripe is an edible offal obtained from the first two chambers of a cattle's stomach: the rumen and the reticulum. There are two common and distinct grades of bovine tripe sold at most butcher outlets in Mafikeng in the North West Province of South Africa: bleached and unbleached tripe. Each of these products corresponds to a peculiar standard of sanitary quality that is based mainly on the processing technique employed during preparation. The cleaned stomach is scalded and trimmed into several tripe pieces which are rinsed and packaged (Bensink et al, 2002) During this decontamination process, prior to packaging, the tripe may be held at temperatures that favour the growth and multiplication of contaminating bacteria. Spoilage organisms are well known to reduce the shelf life of a food product causing it to lose its market value causing economic loss to suppliers
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