Assessment of Microbiological Safety and Quality of Minced Meat and Meat Contact Surfaces in Selected Butcher Shops of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Table 3

Microbial load (log·cfu/cm²) of samples from contact surface of eight butcher shops.

Microbial types	Contact surfaces counts (log·cfu/cm^2)
	Knife ()			Cutting table ()			Balance ()
	Mean	Min	Max	Mean	Min	Max	Mean	Min	Max
Total aerobic mesophilic	6.31^a	4.95	7.1	6.32^a	5.18	7.47	6.43^a	5.27	7.3
Total staphylococci	3.85^a	BDL	4.95	3.99^a	3.00	5.13	3.72^a	BLD	5.9
Enterobacteriaceae	4.93^a	4.3	5.47	4.85^a	3.77	5.67	4.93^a	4.2	5.2
Total coliforms	5.51^a	4.39	6.87	5.34^a	4.40	6.9	5.70^a	4.4	5.9
Fecal coliforms	4.61^a	4.3	5.00	4.42^a	3.50	5.1	4.44^a	3	5.1
Aerobic spores	1.96^ab	BDL	3.77	1.87^bc	BDL	3.33	3.27^a	2	4.1
Yeast and molds	5.03^a	3.47	6.84	4.92^a	3.50	6.01	5.17^a	4.1	6.16

SD: standard deviation; Min: minimum; Max: maximum. Data are means ± SD from two replications, and values followed by different letters within row indicate significant differences (). BDL: below detectable level.