Evaluation of Hygienic status of local Slaughterhouses in Al – Marj, Libya and Its effect on Microbial Load of Meat

This study was conducted to evaluate the hygienic condition of local slaughterhouse in Al-Marj City, Libya. A total of 120 samples were collected during twice visits per week for 10 weeks including; 40 meat samples of slaughtered sheep, 20 swabs from equipment, 20 water samples, 20 surface swabs (floor and wall swabs) beside 20 hand swabs from slaughterhouse workers. Samples were subjected to bacteriological assessment via determination of aerobic plate count, Enterobacteriaceae count and coliforms count beside isolation of some potential pathogenic bacteria. The recorded results clarified the mean value of aerobic plate count was 9.9 × 106, 9.1 × 106, 4.1 × 106, 9.5 × 108 and 1.5 × 105 cfu/g for the examined samples of meat, equipment, surfaces, water and workers, respectively while the mean value of Enterobacteriaceae count was 0.5 × 102, 1.0 × 102, 3.3 × 102, 1.1 × 102 and 2.5× 103 cfu/g for the examined samples of meat, equipment, surfaces, water and workers, respectively and the mean value of Enterobacteriaceae count was 3.4 × 103, 3.5 × 103, 4.3 × 104, 2.4 × 103 and 2.5× 102 cfu/g for the examined samples of meat, equipment, surfaces, water and workers, respectively. In conclusion, to avoid high bacterial load of meat, application of the HACCP system during abattoirs work, educational programs must be applied to the workers as learning of such workers about sources of contamination of meat and personal hygiene to avoid cross contamination.