Assessment of Microbiological Quality of Imported Broiler Chicken Carcasses Retailed for Sale in Al Beida City, Libya

A total of 100 random samples of imported frozen chicken carcasses including; breast and thigh were collected from supermarkets at Al Beida City, Libya to assess their quality through microbiological analysis. It was recorded that mean value of APC for breast samples was 7.6×105 CFU/g and 4.9×106 CFU/g for thigh samples. Also, it was recorded that mean value of Staphylococci count for breast samples was 6.3×102 CFU/g and 2.5×103 CFU/g for thigh samples. In addition, it was recorded that mean value of EC for breast samples was 1.6×105 CFU/g and 3.6×105 CFU/g for thigh samples while mean value of CC for breast samples was 6.4×104 CFU/g and 3.7×105 CFU/g for thigh samples. It was clear that mean value of EC and CC of thigh samples was higher than that of breast samples. Finally, mean value of Mold count for breast samples was 3.6×102 CFU/g and 6.2×102 CFU/g for thigh samples while mean value of Yeasts count for breast samples was 1.9×103 CFU/g and 8.9×103 CFU/g for thigh samples. Detection of potential pathogenic bacteria revealed that the incidence of E. coli was higher in the examined samples of breast (54%) compared to that of thigh (48%) while the incidence of Salmonella was in the examined samples of breast and thigh was 9% for each. The obtained results clarified that imported chicken carcasses had higher bacterial counts and significant potential pathogenic bacteria that may be attributed to cross contamination and unsanitary personal hygiene during handling, packaging, storage and distribution.