| The present study was performed to evaluate the aerobic bacterial contamination in meat and butchers' equipment in retail shops in Tando-Allahyar, Pakistan. A total of 100 samples (40 beef, 40 mutton and 20 butchers' meat-cutting equipment) were obtained from butcher shops from local vendors of different regions of Tando-Allahyar. The samples were collected randomly in sterile labelled polythene bags or bijoux bottles individually and were transferred to laboratory at 4 o C within 3-4 hours of collection. All the samples were subjected to aerobic plate count method that followed by the standard method of isolation and identification. The bacterial load in (g-1 ) meat samples was recorded higher (p< 0.05) in beef samples (4.1x10 9 ) than mutton (3.9x10 7 ) and butchers' meat cutting equipment samples (3.7x10 6 ). The bacterial organisms including Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella dysenteriae and Salmonella enteritidis were recorded as individual or mixed contaminants in meat and meat-cutting equipment samples. From the results, it could be concluded that in Tando-Allahyar, meat samples of cattle beef and sheep mutton, as well as butcher's meat-cutting equipment are highly contaminated. The contamination level of aerobic spoilage bacteria was found higher in cattle beef as compared to sheep mutton.
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