MICROBIAL CONTENT OF MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCT SOLD AT KUMASI CENTRAL MARKET

ABSTRACT Meat is an integral aspect of human diet from ancient times and has seen variety and improvement over the years through the advancement in technology and industrialization. In developing countries such as Ghana, meat quality particularly raw meat from abattoirs and markets has been a matter of health concern due to the poor hygienic practices persisting at these sites. This study set out to investigate the microbial quality of the meat sold on the Central market of the Kumasi Metropolis in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The sampling comprised four meat; chevon, beef, chicken and offals which were taken from abattoirs and sale points mainly streets within and around the Central market and analyzed at the microbiology Laboratory of the Department of Biochemistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST. The analysis comprised the total aerobic count, total Coliform count, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella using the ISO protocols. The results obtained from the study indicated the meat to available on the markets to the generally not safe and of poor microbial quality. The total aerobic count indicated the presence of some aerobic microorganisms in appreciable loads; Chicken recording the least aerobic contamination of averagely 3.57×105 cfu/g with cow and goat meat recording 2.2×106 cfu/g and 2.1×107 cfu/g, respectively. Offals recorded a mean load of 9.49×106 cfu/g. All the meat samples recorded the presence of Coliforms in levels exceeding the threshold ranging from 5.0×102 cfu/g to 1.67×106 cfu/g. Cow recorded the least Coliform load of 5.1×103 cfu/g whereas chicken recorded 1.94×104 cfu/g with goat and offals recording 2.6×105 cfu/g and 3.8×105 cfu/g respectively. Though undesirable, the outcome of this study indicated the presence of Escherichia coli in all the samples. Cow recorded the highest E.coli contamination with a mean level of 2.38×105 cfu/g with offals, goat and chicken recording levels of 1.97×105 cfu/g, 7.34×104 cfu/g and 1.47×104 cfu/g respectively. The various microorganisms were detected in the meat samples taken from the Central market of the Kumasi metropolis; Escherichia coli, Enterococci spp., Staphylococcus spp and some Coliforms and aerobic microorganisms that could not be generically identified.