Microbial quality of poultry paste, raw and cooked meats is very important.
The goal of this study is to investigate the presence of the indicator micro organisms in poultry paste, raw and cooked meats and to propose different methods for controlling them. In 2006, 38 poultry pastes samples ,119 meat samples containing 56 cooked meat and 63 raw meat samples have been examined microbiologically. Among 38 samples of poultry pastes, total bacterial counts in one sample(2.6%) and Staphylococcus aureus count in 14(36.8%) samples were higher than the national microbial limits for poultry pastes. 10(26.3%)samples also contained Salmonella species.12 samples (21.4%) of cooked meats and 16 samples (25.3%) of raw meats didn’t meet the required microbial specifications. From 12 unaccepted cooked meats, 3 samples contained Escherichia coli, all samples had total mesophilic bacterial counts, 2 samples contained Staphylococcus aureus counts, and 8 samples showed coliform counts more than the standard limitations. From 16 unaccepted raw meats, 6 samples contained Salmonella and 10 samples had total mesophilic bacterial counts higher than the standard limitation. To control microbial contamination of raw meats, after slaughtering of cattle, skinning, evisceration, washing and butchery should be done quickly under aseptic conditions and the flesh should be kept at cold temperature. To control microbial contamination of cooked meats, cooking should be performed completely and uniformly and the left over foods must be reheated thoroughly. Educating food handlers and preventing post contamination are the other important factors to control microbial contamination in cooked meats.