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Page No. : 53-55

ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted to evaluate the microbiological quality of 152 food samples from retail outlets comprising eggs (47), chicken (45), chevon (30) and ready-to-eat foods of animal origin (30) by employing standard plate count (SPC), thermophilic count, psychrophilic count, coliform count and yeast and mould count as parameters. Among the chevon samples, 60% showed SPC of ≤6 log10 cfu/g and coliform count of ≤3.7 log10 cfu/g. All the chicken samples had SPC of ≤5.77 log10 cfu/g and 84.4% of these samples revealed coliform count of ≥3.7 log10 cfu/g. SPC of >4.69 log10 cfu/g was observed among all the egg samples examined, while 6.38% of these samples revealed coliform count of >2.7 log10 cfu/g. All the ready-to-eat egg samples also showed coliform counts of >2.7 log10 cfu/g. Results of the present study recommend the need for improvement in hygienic conditions during production, processing and storage of foods of animal origin.

Keywords: Eggs, chevon, chicken, microbiological quality, public health