Quality Assurance of Some Heat Treated Meat Products

Abstract

The aim of this work was to assure the quality of some heat treated meat products, through organoleptic, chemical and microbiological aspects of these products. These products were Luncheon, Frankfurter and Hot dog. A total of 75 samples of final products of Luncheon, Frankfurter and Hot dog (25 / each) were collected randomly from supermarkets in Cairo Province and transferred directly (in a dry icebox) to the laboratory under complete aseptic condition with a minimum of delay. All samples were subjected to organoleptic, chemical and microbiological examination to evaluate their quality status. The results of organoleptic examination revealed that the odour ranged from good to very good, medium to very good and fair to good in Luncheon, Frankfurter and Hot Dog respectively while colour and consistency was good to very good in the three products. The results of chemical analysis revealed that the chemical indicators pH, Total Volatile Nitrogen (T.VN.) and Thiobarbituric Acid (T.B.A.) were within the permissible limits according to EOS (2005). For the chemical examination the mean value of total mesophilic bacterial count was 5.73×102 ± 2.08×102cfu/g, 2.07×106 ± 3.04×105cfu/g, and 1.83×106 ± 2.76×105cfu/g. Also, it was revealed that 100% of the examined samples of total mesophilic count of luncheon were less than the permissible limits according to EOS, (2005) while, 100% of samples of frankfurter and hot dog exceeded the permissible limits when compared with the same standard. The mean value of coliforms count were 2.92 ± 0.31cfu/g, 5.12 ± 0.25 cfu/g, and 6.92 ± 0.27cfu/g for Luncheon, Frankfurter and Hot Dog respectively. The three products were free from Salmonella. Luncheon was free from E.coli and S. aureus while frankfurter and hot dog both of E.coli and S. aureus were isolated in the rate of 80 and 12% respectively. And obtained results indicated that the gram negative coliforms and gram-positive bacteria were present predominantly, Moreover, Moulds and Yeasts counts. Moulds countscfu/g ranged from 0 to 2.1×104 with a mean value of 5.2×102 ± 1.5×102, from 2.2×102 to 3.5×104 with a mean value of 2.9×103 ± 2.1×102 and ranged from 3.1×102 to 4.6×104 with a mean value of 5.3×103 ± 2.2×102 in Luncheon, Frankfurter and Hot Dog respectively. Yeasts counts cfu/g were negative in Luncheon while, ranged from 0to 1.1×104 with a mean value of 3.8×103 ± 2.3×102 and ranged from 0to 1.6×104 with a mean value of 4.5×103 ± 2.1×102 in Frankfurter and Hot Dog respectively. So, it is highly recommended to apply restricted hygiene practices along all steps of processing and storage.