Determining the levels of bacteria in red meat at butcher shops in Al-Mafraq City and their antibiograms

Other Title(s)

تحديد مستوى البكتيريا في اللحوم الحمراء لدى الملاحم في مدينة المفرق و حساسيتها للمضادات الحيوية

Dissertant

al-Hawamidah, Sayf al-Din Ibrahim

Thesis advisor

Irshid, Fawzi
Yaqub, Yaqub H.

University

Al albayt University

Faculty

Faculty of Sciences

Department

Department of Biological Sciences

University Country

Jordan

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2013

English Abstract

There are number of public meat butcher shops distributed all over Jordan, where people buy their meat daily.

Serious consequences relating to national productivity and development can arise from lack of hygiene and sanitation in such meat butcher shops.

Therefore, the goal of this present study is to determine the level of bacterial contamination in red meat obtained from local meat butcher shops in Al-Mafraq city and the identification of these bacterial species and their susceptibility to available commercial antibiotics. A total of seventy eight samples were collected from hand, thigh and back of three different types of meat (sheep, goat and cow) from nine meat butcher shops from three regions at Al-Mafraq City.

Samples were collected between January and February, 2013.

Streak plate method was applied to isolate pure cultures.

The isolated bacteria were then evaluated according to general colonial morphology.

Gram staining, oxidase and catalase activities were employed to each isolate.

The different strains were then subjected to biochemical tests as well as molecular identification (16S rRNA gene sequencing) to identify the bacteria to the species level. The number and percentage of bacterial colonies in three selected regions was 4869 (21%), 7500 (32%) and 11090 (47%) in regions A, B and C, respectively, suggesting that bacterial contamination in zone C was higher than the other two zones A and B.

The average number of bacteria in the cow meat (171 × 102 CFU/g) was found to be higher than that in the sheep and goat meats (151 × 102 CFU/g, 125 × 102 CFU/g, respectively).

Seven species of bacteria were identified as following: Corynebacterium amycolatum, Enterobacter aerogenes, Citrobacter freundii, Microbacterium oxydans, Bacillus safensis, Exiguobacterium indicum and Kocuria rhizophila. Sensitivity of the isolated strains to different antibiotics was also evaluated.

Antibiograms were determined for five antibiotics: penicillin, tetracycline, cyclohexamide, chloramphenicol and cloxacillin.

The following bacterial strains were found to be resistant against cyclohexamide: Exiguobacterium indicum, Bacillus safensis and Citrobacter freundii.

Enterobacter aerogenes was found to be resistant against both penicillin and cyclohexamide.

Microbacterium oxydans was resistant against cloxacillin.

Kocuria rhizophila and Corynebacterium amycolatum were found to be sensitive to all five antibiotics used. In conclusion, the data of this study suggest that microbial contamination in red meat of Al-Mafraq city meat butchers is prevalent, especially in the most congested regions with costumers.

Raw meat that needs longer time for processing and sale are more vulnerable to contamination such as cow red meat.

The presence of these bacterial strains in raw red meat types is a suggestive of poor or unsanitary conditions or practices during slaughtering of these animals, processing or storage.

It is highly recommended that the procedures employed during the handling, packaging and processing of these raw meats must be improved, and must be under the supervision of qualified person from the ministry of health.

Further studies must be carried out to determine the pathogenicity of bacteria contaminating red meat, and the levels of bacterial contamination of equipments used for meat processing and display are also required.

Main Subjects

Biology

Topics

• Microbiology
• Meat
• Jordan
• Mafraq

No. of Pages

69

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-416026