Assessment of Microbiological Quality of Imported Meat Products in Yemeni markets with Focus on Pseudomonas spp. as a Spoilage Indicator

Abstract

Meat products are very perishable foodstuff that can easily be contaminated by microbial organisms and spoiled due poor storage and handling facilities. The current research was conducted to determine microbiological quality of imported meat products in Yemeni retail market with emphasis on use of Pseudomonas spp. to test the level of spoilage. A total of 214 samples that included beef burgers, chicken burgers, chicken meat, minced beef and minced lamb were aseptically collected at the 2 supermarkets in Sanaa in Yemen. Each sample was analyzed by standard culture-based procedures to achieve total aerobic plate count (APC), and presence of Pseudomonas spp., followed by species-level identification with the help of VITEK(R) 2 Compact system. The number of minced beef samples and minced lamb samples had the highest mean APC values of 8.87 10 5 and 8.55 10 5 trend, respectively, lower values were found in burger samples and chicken meat samples. The percentage rates of detection of Pseudomonas spp. were 16.36 with the maximum percentages found in minced lamb (35.29) and minced beef (25.00). Pseudomonas aeruginosa (60ATTR Morphological identification of Pseudomonas spp. showed that P. aeruginosa was the commonest isolate (60%) followed by P. fluorescens (40%). The samples were all compliant with the Yemeni GSO 1016:2019 and 83.64 percent with the ISO 13720:2010, which states that the microorganisms must not have Pseudomonas spp. Such results support the increased susceptibility of minced meats towards microbial contamination and putrifaction. In revising this study, the researchers suggest that they put Pseudomonas spp. monitoring as part of the national food safety policy and strengthening the cold chain to increase meat quality control and safeguard the health of the people in Yemen.