South Asian Journal of Research in Microbiology

Food-borne pathogens from contaminated raw meat and its products are the leading cause of illness and death in developing countries costing billions of dollars in medical care and social costs. This study was aimed at investigating the bacteriological quality and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of raw and processed meat samples sold for consumption in Abakaliki urban. A total of 72 samples (consisting of raw meat and processed meat) were collected from different sample sources. The isolation, enumeration and identification of bacteria were carried out using standard microbiological procedures. The bacterial isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. The results of mean bacteria counts from raw and processed showed that the highest average value of 1.88×10⁷ ± 0.02 cfu/g was from the beef suya purchased from supermarkets while the lower average value of 1.8×10⁵ ± 0.04 cfu/g was from kilishi purchased from supermarkets. Also, raw beef from slaughter house and Abakpa market showed highest value of 6.5×10⁷ ± 0.02 cfu/g and the lowest value of 1.1×10⁶ ± 0.03 cfu/g respectively. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in mean bacterial counts between processed meat types (ANOVA: F (2,6) = 18.7, p = 0.002), with Kilishi showing lower contamination than Beef Suya and Fried Pork (Tukey’s HSD: p < 0.05). The identified bacteria belong to the genera: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Shigella flexneri with the following percentage occurrence: 20 % (44) of E. coli, 18.64 % (41) of S. aureus, 15.45 % (34) of Salmonella typhi, 15 % (33) of P. aeruginosa, 18.18 % (40) of Klebsiella and 12.73 % (28) of Shigella flexneri. This showed that E. coli had the highest number of occurrence (65.7 %) while Shigella flexneri had the lowest number of occurrence (41.8 %). Percentage antibiotic susceptibility profile showed that Klebsiella pneumoniae were highly susceptible (100%) to all the antibiotics used while Shigella flexneri, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were all resistant to amoxicillin, ceftazidime, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole and kanamycin but susceptible to imipenem, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin. Multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) was between average values of 0.67 to 1. This study confirms the presence of pathogenic bacteria in raw and processed meat samples sold in Abakaliki metropolis, Nigeria which could be a source of concern as it could constitute a public health threat for its consumers.