부산대학교 도서관

The microbiological quality of meat is influenced by the conditions of hygiene prevailing during production and handling. Thus, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of Salmonella entericaand its antimicrobial resistance, load of hygiene indicator bacteria including E. coli (ECC), coliforms (CC), total coliform (TCC), Enterobacteriaceae (EB) and aerobic plate count (APC), and meat handler’s food safety knowledge and hygiene practices in butcher shops in two cities, Addis Ababa and Hawassa in Ethiopia, during 2020 and 2021. A total of 360 samples of beef carcasses (n = 120), knives (n = 60), chopping boards (n = 60), weighing balance (n = 60), and personnel’s hands (n = 60) were randomly collected for microbial analysis. Besides, 120 participants were selected to participate in a food safety knowledge and hygiene practices assessment. The S. entericaisolates were identified by agglutination test followed by qPCR targeting invA gene. Phenotypic antimicrobial resistance profiles of S. entericawere determined using disk diffusion assays as described in CLSI. The ECC, CC, TCC, EB, and APC populations were quantified by plating onto petrifilm plates. A structured questionnaire was used to determine food safety knowledge and hygiene practices of participants. Overall prevalence of S. entericawas 16.7% (95% CI, 8.3—26.7) and location seems to have no effect (p = 0.806).Only 20% of the S. entericawere resistant to ampicillin and tetracycline. However, the majority (80%) of S. entericaisolates were susceptible to the panel of 11 antimicrobials tested. The overall mean ± SD (log CFU/cm2) of ECC, CC, TCC, EB, and APC were 4.31 ± 1.15; 4.61 ± 1.33; 4.77 ± 1.32; 4.59 ± 1.38 and 5.87 ± 1.52, respectively. No significant difference (p= 0.123) in E. colicontamination was observed between samples of beef carcasses and chopping boards. The EB contamination showed no significant difference (p> 0.05) among sample sources. The APC contamination levels on beef carcass were significantly higher (p> 0.05) than other sample sources. A total of 56% (95% CI: 46.7 – 65.0) of the participants had poor knowledge and 65% (95% CI: 56.7 – 73.3) had poor hygiene practices towards food safety. This study highlighted the poor hygiene status of butcher facilities with a potential risk of beef safety. Thus, appropriate food safety control strategies and inspection is needed at retail establishments.