Effect of Low Temperature on the Bacterial Load in Chicken, Mutton and Beef Meat in Relation to Meat Spoilage

Meat spoilage during low temperature can be considered as an ecological phenomenon, which encompasses the changes of the available substrata, during the prevailing of a particular microbial association of specific spoilage organisms. In fact, spoilage of meat (Chicken, Mutton and Beef) depends on a temperature and duration of storage time. These specific spoilage organisms are the consequence of factors that dynamically persist or imposed by processing, transportation and temperature of the container and storage time in the market. In the present study the effect of low temperature (–18 °C) on the bacterial load in Chicken, Mutton and Beef meat in relation to meat spoilage. In these three meats the high Total Viable Count (TVC) was recorded the first day of Beef meat (203×105 bacterial cell/gram). The low Total Viable Count (TVC) was recorded the fifth day of Chicken meat (35×102 bacterial cell/gram) and low pH range (pH: 5) also recorded in the fifth day of Chicken meat. Finally the low temperatures were arrest the pathogenic microbial growth and gradually reduce the pH range in the selected meat samples. © 2011 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved