North-eastern region of India is inhabited by different ethnic tribes devoted to livestock farming and agriculture. In recent years, tourism has had a significant development with increase in tourist destinations and holiday resorts resulting in increasing demand for supply of meat in the local market. Chicken meat is one of the predominantly consumed animal originated food item with constant increase in demand, usually met by the local retail markets. To assess the microbiological quality and safety of the retail chicken meat sold across the markets of North-East India, a study was undertaken to survey the prevalence of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Although there was no E. coli O157 recovered from the retail samples, 22 (11.5 %) of the isolates obtained from different samples were STEC positive and 11 (50 %) of the STEC isolates carried the eae factor but none of them harbored the EHEC-hlyA gene. None of the STEC isolates showed stx2 gene amplification. The counts of E. coli per g in the STEC positive samples exceeded or were close to the limit recommended by the Meat Standard Committee (Australian Standards 2002) and Microbial Food Safety–Indian Regulations. The higher counts observed were attributed to high temperature, poor hygienic practices and fecal contamination of the dressed meat. The present study suggests that retail meat is potential vehicle for transmitting food-borne diseases in the region and there is an urgent need for increased implementation of hazard analysis of critical control point and consumer food safety education programme.