Department of Veterinary Public Health, Bombay Veterinary College, Mumbai - 400 012, (MS).
*Corresponding author: E-mail: drvilasmvaidya@rediffmail.com
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The sources of microbial contamination in organized poultry slaughter house were enumerated by collecting 138 swab samples from 23 different points of a slaughter house and processing plant. Amongst all points, slaughter house floor yielded maximum TVC (5.86±0.26 log CFU/cm2±SE) followed by evisceration room floor (5.79±0.25 log cfu/cm2±SE) while packaging material (2.11±0.1 log CFU/cm2±SE) and chilled water (2.74±0.19 log CFU/cm2±SE) yielded minimum TVC. The pathogenic and spoilage-causing organisms showed similar trend with maximum contamination on the floors. The average bacterial count (log CFU/cm2±SE) of various organisms viz. S. aureus, Enterococci, B. cereus, Clostridium spp. Fecal coliforms, E. coli and P. aeruginosa was 3.96±0.25, 2.76±0.17, 2.98±0.18, 2.92±0.09, 2.80±0.17, 2.77±0.13, 2.65±0.15 and 2.46±0.18, respectively, while their per cent prevalence was 13.04, 30.43, 5.80, 16.67, 30.43, 18.00 and 21.01, respectively. Salmonella could not be detected in any of the samples. Based on the results, proper monitoring of each point is important for production of quality meat.
