Mountain Top University Library

ABSTRACT
Bacterial pathogens are of the utmost concern to consumers about the protection of meat. A wide variety of pre-slaughter, post-slaughter and processing methods are responsible for human pathogenic contamination of raw meat products. Pathogenic Escherichia coli is a common pathogen associated with meat, with Shiga-toxin or verocytoxin producing E. coli O157 the most common member of a group of pathogenic strains. In this study, E. coli O157 was isolated using sorbitol containing MacConkey agar (SMAC medium) while Salmonella-Shigella (SS) agar were used for the isolation of Salmonella species. The highest counts of 6.1 log10 CFU/g and 6.3 Log10 CFU/g of presumptive STEC SMAC were found in Offals and meat respectively. Salmonella species were found in 25 g of offals which is contrary to meat safety standards. Thus, such microorganisms pose a potential danger to humans, particularly from the consumption of these products, which may lead to other diseases such as haemorrhagic colitis (HC) or haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). There is a need for education on sanitary handling of meat which is possible vehicle for Salmonella and E. coli infections. The responsibility of tracking the hygiene and sanitation of abattoirs and slaughterhouse in Magboro, Ogun state, should be taken over by government agencies.