Study on the overview on food borne bacteria in foodstuffs with animal origin in Iran; Part two: meat and meat products

The present study was aimed to review the contamination of meat and meat products with pathogenic bacteria in Iran. Little information is available about the contamination of meat and meat products with Bacillus cereus, because of the low contamination rate with the microorganism. The situation is about the same with Brucella, as the microorganism can hardly be seen in the muscles. However, not too many information is available on the contamination with Campylobacter jejuni, even though, the contamination of chicken meat with the campylobacter was addressed. Clostridium butolinum was the main discriminated bacterium to contaminate fish and its products and canned meats. Studies revealed that the big portions of meat were less likely contaminated with E. coli compared to the minced meat. Our study showed that the cross contamination of sausage is often occurred after the production chain. The situation was possibly attributed to the improvement of hygienic conditions of slaughter-houses and meat industries. Limited information was found on the contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and available data indicate that the microorganism can be present in meat and meat products. The most important factor for prevention of contamination is restricted inspection of slaughtered animals before slaughter and omission of diseased animals. Much information was accessible on the cross contamination with Salmonella in Iran and elsewhere. Salmonellosis is not common in the slaughtered animals despite its epidemiological and public health issues. The problem was also associated with the restricted inspection. Study about the staphylococcal contamination of meat was proportionately numerous. The contamination was mostly occurred in the minced Kebab in the warm seasons of the year. Generally, a low percentage of such contaminations were found in the meat products and sausage, in the surveys.