SUBSISTENCE OF SPECIFIC SPOILAGE ORGANISMS IN COMMINUTED MEAT PRODUCTS AT RETAIL LEVEL

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Comminuted meat products are important sources for protein, fat, minerals and other nutrients. The specific spoilage organisms association of meat products should be periodically monitored in parallel with the changes in the economic and social live style. Therefore, a total of 75 random frozen samples of comminuted meat products (25 each of hamburger, minced beef and sausage) commercially produced and procured at the retail level in Ismailia city were examined for total aerobic, psychrophilic, proteolytic and Enterobacteriaceae counts. The percentage of proteolytic bacteria in hamburger, minced beef and sausage samples were 84, 68 and 80%, respectively, and for Enterobacteriacae bacteria were 60, 48 and 56%, respectively. The mean aerobic counts of hamburger, minced beef and sausage samples were 4.9 x104, 1.8 x105 and 3.8 x105 CFU/g, respectively, while the mean psychrophilic counts were 4.1 x105, 9.5 x104 and 1.9 x105 CFU/g, respectively, and the mean proteolytic counts were 2.1 x104, 1.3 x104 and 3.4 x104 CFU/g, respectively. Finally, the mean Enterobacteriaceae counts were 5.8 x103, 2.6 x103 and 7.1 x103 CFU/g, respectively. The highest frequency of psychrophilic microorganisms was Micrococcus roseus, whereas, the highest frequency of proteolytic microorganisms was Pseudomonas cepacia. It could be concluded that the microbial content of meat products at the retail level in Ismailia city confirmed the original microbial contamination of raw meat as well as the additional contamination occurred during processing. Application of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems in meat plants aids in improve the microbial quality of the comminuted meat products.