BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF FRESH MEAT SOLD WITHIN ELDORET TOWN

Abstract

Meat is the primary source of proteins in many parts of Africa. In many cases however, it is major point of entry of many zoonotic diseases. Further, due to the long and many procedures involved in the meat industry, it is also implicated with many diseases associated with poor hygiene. The present study was carried out to assess the general microbiological quality of meat (beef, chevon and mutton) sold in Eldoret Town of Uasin Gishu County. The objectives of the study were; to investigate the physiological conditions of the meat, assessing the bacterial load of the meat, and biochemical characterization of selected bacterial pathogens found on the meat. Five major abattoirs were sampled for this study; Kaburwo in Langas, Maili Nne in Huruma, Cyrus in Munyaka, Eldoret main, and Teresia in Moiben representing all the major peri-urban centres of the Town. Five butcheries in the town were also selected for the study. The pH and temperatures of the carcasses were the physiological parameters measured and were recorded at the sampling sites. Meat samples were aseptically collected and taken in sterile bags and kept at 4˚C. One gram of each meat sample was mixed with 0.4 ml of 0.1% of buffered peptone water for 2 minutes. Serial dilutions were carried out and followed by plating via pour plate technique. The plates were incubated for 24 hrs at 37 ˚C after which total plate count was done to determine the bacterial load of the meat samples. Biochemical typing was done on pure isolates to determine the presence of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Proteus vulgaris. PH values ranged from 5.5 to 6.77 with the pH of the meat obtained from butchery consistently registering low values compared to the ones from the abattoirs. Temperatures of the carcasses ranged from 23 ˚C to 26.95 ˚C. The lowest temperatures were obtained from the carcasses from Teresia abattoir. Statistical analysis of variance was used to determine level of signifance between the microbial load and factors; temperature and PH on meat sample collected. Correlation regression analysis was used to determine the influence of the physiological factors measured on the numbers of colony forming units(cfus). Statistical analysis was done using Ms Excel 2013. The meat in all the samples sites were found to be of poor bacteriological quality as the bacterial load was found to be higher than the recommended levels. The highest bacterial load was found in the carcasses in the butchery with an average of 19.8 cfus g/ml while the lowest was from the Maili Nne abattoir with an average of 4.9 cfus g/ml. Among the abattoirs, Teresia had the highest bacterial load of 9.2 cfus. Temperature was found to be positively correlated with cfu albeit weak (0.177) while pH was negatively correlated with the same (-0.478). Staphyloccocus aureus was the major pathogenic bacteria isolated from all the carcasses being at 26% of the isolated bacteria. Proteus vulgaris was at 11% and Escherichia coli at 8%. These differed from one sampling site to another but the order of abundance remained uniform. More public health education on the appropriate hygienic practices ought to be rolled out to help achieve a better microbiological quality status of the meat sold in Eldoret Municipality.