ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF MICROORGANISMS FROM MEAT SAMPLES OBTAINED FROM DIFFERENT AREAS IN JOS METROPOLIS

Abstract

Meat deterioration is a global problem and one of the leading causes of food wastage and substantial economic loss. It is associated with different environmental factors like poor handling and conducive decay factors like high moisture content, conducive microbial growth, temperature, and favourable acidity for microbial growth. The present study was designed to find out the microbial species associated with decayed meat samples in the Jos metropolis. Meat samples were collected from different locations in Jos metropolis at guided random and it included nine samples of raw beef, twenty-seven processed samples which were made of Kilishi, Suya and Minced meat. They were subjected to microbial isolation experiments which were plated out on Potato Dextrose Agar and Nutrient Agar media. The samples were also subjected to ecological determination with a pH range of 6.14 to 6.81 while percentage moisture content was highest in minced meat (57.47%). A total of 21 species of microorganisms were isolated from the meat samples. The isolates included 9 bacteria, 11 fungal and one yeast species. Among the test samples, minced meat showed the highest bacterial load while Kilishi showed the highest number of fungi and some of these isolated organisms are of public health importance.