Assessment of the Microbial Qualities of Exported Sheep and Goats’Carcasses and the Hygiene Conditions of an Export Slaughterhouse in Khartoum State –Sudan.

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the levels of contamination in exported sheep and goats carcasses during September 2018 to January 2019 in an export slaughterhouse and at Khartoum airport in Khartoum state, Sudan. A total of 250 swab samples were collected (slaughterhouse 130 samples, Khartoum airport 120 samples).The total viable count (TVC) was used to evaluate the levels of contamination in the four parts of the carcasses namely neck, forelimb, flank and hind limb at different operational control points during the slaughtering process (skinning, evisceration, washing, and chilling) and at Khartoum air port. Also, 40 samples were taken from hands of the workers and contact surfaces from both slaughterhouse and at airport. TVCs of sheep and goats carcasses in slaughterhouse and airport ranged between 8.39±0.10 log10 cfu/cm2 and 8.58±0.06 log10 cfu/cm2, the TVCs of the butcher’s hands and loaders in the slaughterhouse were 8.43±0.10 log10 cfu/cm2 and 8.44±0.06 log10 cfu/cm2 respectively, while the hands of the workers in the airport were 8.21 ±0.12 log10 cfu/cm2. The percentages of pathogenic bacteria isolated at the export slaughterhouse were 39.88% E.coli, 19.02% Salmonella spp and 41.10% Staphylococcus areus, while the percentages of pathogenic bacteria isolated at the Khartoum air port were 38.0% E.coli, 9.02% Salmonella spp and 71.7 % Staphylococcus areus. The questionnaire among 40 slaughter workers revealed that the respondents had acceptable levels of knowledge, excellent attitudes and good practices toward food hygiene measures. Only 35.0% of workers had received one training session 2 years ago, where as 67.5% of the participants have a valid health certificate. The study showed that the levels of contamination on the exported sheep and goats carcasses were higher than the acceptable values set by the Sudanese and international standards. For providing hygienic meat, it is important to maintain high standards of hygiene in the slaughterhouse by continuous monitoring and imposing the hazard analysis critical control points system (HACCP).