Guidelines for bacterial counts on carcases at Cato Ridge abattoir

The agar sausage technique was used to make an assessment of the surface aerobic bacterial levels of refrigerated beef, mutton and pork carcases at Cato Ridge abattoir by taking agar imprints from selected sites on the surfaces of carcases. It was shown that half of the 297 beef carcases examined had less than 200 aerobes cm-2, half of the 298 mutton carcases less than 250 aerobes cm-2 and half the 299 pork carcases less than 134 aerobes cm-2. These counts are utilised as guidelines to identify breakdowns in hygiene at the abattoir.