Bacteriological Status and Prevalence of Shiga Toxin Producing E. coli in Bovine Meat Products with a Reduction Trial Using Acetic and Citric Acids
Bacteriological Status and Prevalence of Shiga Toxin Producing E. coli in Bovine Meat Products with a Reduction Trial Using Acetic and Citric Acids
Zohair S. Mulla1*, Mostafa M. Abdelhafeez2
ABSTRACT
The current investigation was performed to examine the bacteriological status of three bovine meat products namely, ground beef, beef burger, and beef sausage retailed in Saudi Arabia. Bacteriological examinations involved the estimation of total bacterial count (TBC), total psychrophilic count (TPsC), most probable number (MPN) of coliforms, and MPN of E. coli. In addition, isolation, and identification of shiga toxin producing E. coli were further conducted. An experimental trial was done for improvement of the bacteriological status of the ground beef using diluted acetic acid, citric acid, and their mixture containing equal volumes of both acetic and citric acids at 0.5%, 1%, and 2%. The achieved results in the current study declared high microbial counts for the tested meat products, particularly for the ground beef. E. coli was isolated from the examined meat products at 40% for ground beef, 20% for beef burger, and 10% for beef sausage, respectively. The recovered E. coli were further identified into six serotypes, namely E. coli O2:H6, O26:H11, O55:H7, O78:H-, O86:H11, and O119:H4. Detection of shiga toxin producing genes (stx1 and stx2) in the recovered serotypes was followed using multiplex PCR. A significant decrease in the microbial loads was recorded after dipping of the formulated ground beef as meat balls in the acid solutions, particularly at the acid cocktail 2%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report isolation and identification of shiga toxin producing E. coli from retailed meat products in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Keywords | Ground beef, Sausage, Burger, Microbial status, E. coli, Organic acids
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