BACKGROUND: Meat is one of society's most important nutritional needs, the price of which is higher than other food groups. In recent years, the use of meat products has increased due to human lifestyle changes. Fraud in meat products occurs for various reasons, including the economic value of meat. Therefore, it is crucial to use fast and accurate methods of identifying these frauds.OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to determine the unauthorized tissue by a histological method as well as to determine the unauthorized species used in meat products of factories in Hamadan province.METHODS: In the summer of 2021, fifty samples were collected from active production units of the Hamedan province that were available in the Hamadan city market and transferred to the laboratory for histological laboratory and animal species determination by PCR test. For the histology test based on the national standard 6103, the samples were subjected to fixation, passage (dehydration, clearing, impregnation with molten paraffin), blocking, sectioning, and H&E staining. PCR method was used to determine the type of animal species used in the production of the collected samples.RESULTS: The results confirmed the presence of unauthorized tissues, including bone, cartilage (articular and respiratory cartilage), skin, and glandular organ in meat products. Also, PCR test results showed that chicken meat was found in 100% of the samples labeled with beef.CONCLUSIONS: The presence of illegal tissue and the use of chicken meat in products labeled as beef meat is evident in the sausages produced in Hamadan province.

The present study was conducted to investigate the presence of Aeromonas species especiallyA. hydrophila and to detect the presence of the aerolysin (aerA) and haemolysin (hly) genes in its isolates derived from a total of 80 poultry meat samples including 20 of each of breasts, drumsticks,thighs and wings. The samples were randomly purchased from some local retail shops in Assiut city, Egypt. Aeromonas spp. were isolated from 48(60%) of the samples analyzed, including 11(55%) of chicken breast, 12 (60%) of chicken drumsticks, 10 (50%) of chicken thigh and 15 (75%) of chicken wing. A total of 48 strains were isolated belonging to six species: A. hydrophila 14 (17.5%), A. caviae 5 (6.25%), A. jandaei 7(8.75%), A. trota 1 (1.25%), A. schubertii 6 (7.5%) and A. allosacharophila 15 (18.75%). All the recovered A. hydrophila organisms were confirmed by PCR assay for the presence of 16S rRNA gene and 9 strains of the tested isolates harboured this gene. Whereas the aerA and hly virulence genes were present in eight and five of A. hydrophila strains out of nine isolates tested, respectively. Strict hygiene measure should be taken to minimize the contamination of poultry meat with Aeromonas spp.