"Bacteriological Assessment of Some Raw, Chilled Chicken Meat Cuts in Benha City"

Abstract

Chicken meat is a popular, highly nutritious, and easily digestible source of protein. Chicken meat is a desirable target for direct or indirect bacterial contamination at each stage of production, from rearing to ready-to-eat meal. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the bacteriological quality of 120 random samples of raw, chilled chicken cuts (breast, thigh, drumstick, and wings,30 of each) sold in Benha city's local markets and their risk to public health. The obtained results indicated that the examined chicken cuts meat samples exhibited the lowest safety with the highest bacterial counts; where aerobic plate count (APC), coliform count (CC), S. aureus and C. perfringens counts (CFU/g) were 1.9×10 4 , 18x10 2 , 7.2x10 2 and 1.1x10 3 for breast samples; 63x10 4 , 22x10 2 , 9.1x10 2 and 1.8x10 3 for drumstick samples; 85x10 4 , 28x10 2 , 12x10 2 an 2.8x10 3 for thigh samples; 8.6x10 4 , 20x10 2 , 10x10 2 and 1.5x10 3 for wing samples, respectively. The thigh samples also had a significantly higher rate of E. coli and salmonella than the other chicken samples (50 and 10 %, respectively). In addition, eight of the isolated S. aureus strains demonstrated an affinity for producing enterotoxins that were typed as SEA, SEC, and SED with a prevalence of 62.5%, 12.5%, and 25%, respectively. Samples were evaluated in accordance with Egyptian standards and their suitability for human consumption was documented. Therefore, strict hygienic measures should be implemented to reduce the affinity and dangers posed by bacteria that cause food poisoning.