Bacteriological flora of meat and meat products

The bacterial flora of meat and meat products consumed by Egyptian people was estimated. The highest counts, either for total viable bacteria and coliforms were found in sausage and in raw kofta and kabab, but they markedly decreased after grilling. Heavy loads of bacteria were also observed in the fresh beef samples, frozen imported beef, minced meat, and liver. The luncheon meat samples gave the lowest total bacterial counts and seemed to be free of coliforms. Gram-negative rods constituted most of the total isolates of the different types of meat. In the heat-treated meat products, the most predominant bacteria were Gram-positive cocci. The predominating organisms in fresh beef were Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Micrococcus spp. as well as E. coli and Lactobacillus plantarum. On adopting the total viable and coliform standard counts suggested in the U.S.A., it was found that some of the meat products (sausage, raw kabab and kofta) contained higher total and coliform counts than that of the standard, whereas the total counts of the other meat products were lower.