PREVALENCE OF SALMONELLA SPECIES AND PATHOGENIC ESCHERICHIA COLI IN STREET VENDED RAW MEAT IN OFADA, MOKOLOKI, OGUN STATE

Abstract

Bacterial pathogens are of the greatest concern to customers about meat safety problems. A broad range of pre-slaughtering, post-slaughtering and processing procedures are responsible for human pathogen contamination of raw meat goods. Pathogenic Escherichia coli is a common pathogen associated with meat, with Shiga-toxin or verocytoxin producing E. coli O157 the most common member of a group of pathogenic strains. In this study, E. coli O157 was isolated using sorbitol containing MacConkey agar (SMAC medium) while Salmonella-Shigella (SS) agar were used for the isolation Salmonella species. The highest counts of 8.05 log10 CFU/g and 8.12 Log10 CFU/g for SMAC were found in Offals and meat respectively. Salmonella species were found in 25 g of both offals and meat which are contrary to meat safety standards. Thus, such microorganisms pose a potential danger to humans, particularly from the consumption of these products, which may lead to other diseases such as hemorrhagic colitis (HC) or hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). There is a need for education on sanitary handling of meat which is possible vehicle for Salmonella and E. coli infections. The responsibility of tracking the hygiene and sanitation of abattoirs and slaughterhouse in Ofada / Mokoloki LCDA should be taken over by government agencies.