Results I Got After Carrying Out Analysis On The Microbial Composition Of Chicken Meat.

MICROBIAL COMPOSITION

Microbiological quality of boiled, fried and smoked chicken meat samples on the bases of the mean colony forming unit of the total bacteria and fungi per gram is presented in Table 4.3 while that of total Coliform and Salmonella count are presented in Table 4.4. Total bacteria count ranged from 1.8 x 10³ to 3.7 x 10³ cfu/ml while that of total fungal count ranged from 1.4 x 10⁴ to 4.5 x 10⁴ cfu/ml. Fungal count was higher than the bacterial count except in fried samples where fungi presence was undetectable. The highest number of bacterial and fungi isolates were obtained from control chicken meat samples. Smoked samples had the lowest bacterial count. Bacterial such as S. aureus, Micrococcus spp, Klebsiella spp, E. coli were isolated from boiled and control samples, Microccus spp., S. aureus, Klebsiella spp were isolated from fried samples, S. aureus, Micrococcus spp, were isolated from smoked samples. No fungal count was recorded for fried samples. Isolated fungi from boiled and control chicken meat samples include Aspergillus spp, Rhizopus stolonifer while Rhizopus stolonifer was isolated from the smoked chicken meat samples.

Table 1:  Total Viable Bacterial and Fungal Count of processed chicken samples

a-c: Values are means ± s.d of duplicate determination. Mean value in the same column but with different superscript are significantly different (P<0.05).

Table 2:  Total Coliforms and Salmonella Count of processed chicken samples

a-c: Values are means ± s.d of duplicate determination. Mean value in the same column but with different superscript are significantly different (P<0.05).

The frequency of occurrence of bacteria isolates was higher than the fungi isolates. For example, S. aureus and Micrococcus spp were the most frequently isolated organisms from all the chicken samples.

The presence of these organisms in ready-to-eat food (boiled, fried  and smoked chicken meat) depicts a deplorable state of poor hygiene and sanitary practices employed in the processing. Also, the presence of fungi such as Aspergillus spp in the boiled chicken meat samples signals danger to public health since many of these fungi are toxin-producing organisms (Prescott et al., 2005). Aspergillus spp presence could be due to the fact that these organisms are spore formers and are known common environmental contaminants (Powel et al., 2020). Staphylococcus aureus is a normal body flora of humans found on nasal passages, skin and mucous membranes and could have been introduced through unclean hands and mouth of the handler (Rajashekara et al., 2009; Mohmood et al., 2011). The packaging materials (usually cellophane) are normally opened by squeezing/blowing air into it which can introduce S. aureus. The presence of Staphylococcus aureus could also be attributed to unclean utensils and poor environment in which the samples are prepared. Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen; and the Enterotoxigenic strains of it are known to cause serious foodborne disease (Prescott et al., 2005; Sotelo and Perez, 2003). The presence of Escherichia coli,  and Klebsiella spp calls for concern as these organisms are frequently associated with poor sanitary practices and could be a pointer to the danger of possible food-borne infection. Escherichia coli are especially of fecal origin and having been isolated from the boiled and control samples suggest water contamination (Frazier and Westhoff, 2009). It is interesting to note that high temperature involved in boiling, frying and smoking is sufficient to eliminate most of the microorganisms. However, post-processing contamination may occur when the product is not appropriately handled and packaged. Since Escherichia coli which is one of the most important food-borne pathogen, was isolated from the boiled chicken samples, the consumption of this food should be discouraged.

The results presented in Table 4.4 revealed the presence of Coliforms but the absence of Salmonella in processed samples while the control sample had both Coliforms and Salmonella contamination. The coliform count in boiled samples was 2.7 x 10³ cfu/ml while fried samples had 1.3 x 10³ Cfu/ml. These values were lower than what was obtained in the control sample (2.9 x 10³ cfu/ml). Apparently, control chicken samples had higher coliform count followed by boiled chicken meat. Boiled chicken samples had higher coliform count, twice more than the count obtained from fried samples. No Coliform nor Salmonella presence was detected in the smoked samples. The Coliform isolated from the chicken samples include Klebsiella spp, E. coli for boiled and control samples while Klebsiella spp was obtained for fried samples. It is apparent from this investigation that the presence of coliforms in the processed samples could be a reflection of the level of exposure and the handling processes which are factors contributing to the high microbial load. The absence of Salmonella could be attributed to the high temperature associated with the processing methods which is sufficient enough to destroy Salmonella. Undercooking has been reported to be the major cause of Salmonellosis outbreak following the consumption of chicken meat (Corry et al., 2002).

The levels of microbial contamination revealed in the current research are within the tolerable limit which falls between 1.0×10⁵ to 1.0×10⁶ cfu/ml for viable bacteria count and 1.0×10⁴ for fungal growth (Health Protection Agency, 2009). Hence, may be fit for consumption