Bacterial contaminants of raw broiler meat sold at Korle-Gonno, Accra, Ghana

Bacteria and other microbial contamination of poultry meat remains a serious public health concern throughout the world, due to the nutritive value of the meat. A total of 200 raw broiler meat samples with skin on comprising 100 fresh and 100 frozen were purchased randomly from Korle-Gonno, Accra, Ghana. Aerobic plate and enterobacteria counts were determined by inoculating aliquots of homogenized samples after serial dilutions into plate count, MacConkey, violet red bile glucose agars and all incubated at 37°C for 24-48 h. Mean bacteria counts were expressed as colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) of the broiler meat and then converted to log10 CFU/g. Salmonella sp. was isolated by enrichment in buffered peptone water, incubated at 37°C for 24 h. Aliquots were transferred into selenite cystine and Rappaport-Vassiliadis broths, incubated at 37°C and 42°C respectively for 24 h before a loopful of each broth was streaked on xylose-lysine deoxycholate agar plates and incubated at 37°C for 48 h. Enterobacteria and Staphylococcus aureus were also isolated on violet red bile glucose and Baird-Parker agars both incubated at 37°C for 24-48 h. Mean aerobic plate and enterobacteria counts ranging from 2.6- 14.1 log10 CFU/g and 2.2-9.8 log10 CFU/g were found for the raw broiler meat samples from the cold stores and the local retail shops. Bacteria isolated were Proteus mirabilis (26.7%), Proteus vulgaris (25.1%), Klebsiella sp. (23.4%), Salmonella sp. (10.8%), coagulase negative Staph aureus (9.2%), and Escherichia coli (4.8%). From the study it is recommended that raw broiler meat and other meat products should be boiled thoroughly with safe water, kept, and served under good hygienic conditions to prevent microbial contamination because consumption of contaminated meat can lead to illness.