Abstract

Objective: This article aimed to investigate safety attributes of meat purchased at small scale selling points at Wad-Medani City, Sudan.

Methods: Standard microbiological procedures were performed to determine the microbiological qualities of beef meat and offals during three seasons; summer, winter and autumn.

Results: The microbiological analysis revealed that the highest contamination was detected in the summer since the total viable counts (TVC) were 6.5 x 10⁷ cfu/g and TVC was 12.9 x 10⁷ cfu/g in offals. A high count of yeast and molds was (3.5 x 10² cfu/g) in offals, while a lower count (0.93 x 10² cfu/g) was found in meat. The data showed that the prevalence of most of the pathogenic bacteria of both meat and offals were influenced by the season, in that; a higher percentage of Salmonella spp (83.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (100%) and E. coli (83.3%) during autumn, whereas; Bacillus cereus showed a high percent (66.7%) in winter. All the isolated bacteria were found with high proportions in offal samples, in that: E. coli, Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus were found in 100%, 94.4%, 94.4% and 66.7% of the samples, respectively and for meat samples, these bacteria were found in 83.3%, 66.7%, 61.1% and 55.6% of the samples, respectively.

Conclusion: The results cleared that, the highest contamination level was detected at offal. There is high contamination in the meat selling centers due to a lack of health requirements in meat shops, meat handling, and lack of attention to personal hygiene. The meat and offals must be subjected to proper cooking prior to consumption, in addition, there is a need for the application of suitable control measures to prevent meat cross and post-contamination.

Keywords: Microbiological Analysis; Contamination; Salmonella; Yeasts; Cooking

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