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Page No. : 63-66

ABSTRACT

In the present investigation 40 beef carcasses were randomly selected during April to June 2002 from a meat processing plant located at Kochi in Kerala which procures carcasses from two slaughtering units viz., A and B, located in Tamil Nadu. From each carcass, surface area of 500 cm2 was swabbed which consisted of 100 cm2 each from neck, brisket, loin, flank and outer round. The samples from each carcass were examined for the bacterial quality by estimating the total viable count (TVC), coliform count (CC), Escherichia coli count (ECC) and faecal streptococcal count (FSC). All samples were subjected to the isolation and identification of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The samples had an overall mean TVC, CC, ECC and FSC of 7.40 ± 0.17, 3.41 ± 0.13, 1.83 ± 0.22 and 3.27 ± 0.10 log10 cfu/cm2, respectively. E. coli was isolated from 10 carcasses belonging to source A and 5 carcasses from source B. The serotype O157 was isolated from two of the carcass samples belonging to source A. Four isolates from this source belonged to serotype O36. The serotypes O36, O156, O157 and O172 were isolated only from the samples obtained from the source A. The serotype O8 was isolated from both the sources. However, the serotypes O13, O65, O69 and O75 were isolated only from samples of source B. S. aureus was isolated from two (5%) carcasses belonging to source A and one (2.5%) of the carcasses belonging to the source B. The study emphasizes on the need for hygienic requirements to be taken at all levels of production.

Keywords: Bacterial pathogens, beef carcass, slaughtering plants