| Abstrakt: |
Chicken meat continues to gain global acceptance. The unhygienic processing and retailing conditions, in most Nigerian States, expose the meat to microbial contaminations. Though, economically useful, most fungi are mycotoxigenic. The present study investigated the mycological quality of fresh and frozen chicken meat retailed in three major markets (Effurun, Ekpan, and Uborikoko) within Warri metropolis, Delta State, Nigeria. The spread plate technique was used to culture the samples on sterile potato dextrose agar (supplemented with antibiotics) at 28 ± 2 °C. Out of the 60 samples analyzed, 38 (63.3 %) yielded fungal growth, with 25 (65.7 %) and 13 (34.2 %) for fresh and frozen samples, respectively. The fungal loads ranged from 1.1 - 2.2 x 104 CFU/g and 1.3 - 4.0 x 10² CFU/g for the fresh and frozen samples, respectively. The fungal loads were not significantly different, except in frozen samples from Epkan market. Penicillium (20.8-26.7 %), Aspergillus (20.0 - 22.9 %), Cladosporium (10.4-23.3 %), Mucor (10.4-13.3 %), Fusarium (8.3 - 16.7 %), Rhizopus (0 - 12.5 %), Alternaria (0 - 8.3 %), and Candida spp. (0 - 6.3 %) were the major fungal isolates. The fresh chicken samples were more contaminated than the frozen samples, though not significantly different (P>0.05). Poor processing environment and use of unhygienic retail equipments could be the possible contamination routes. The relatively high proportions of Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium and Fusarium spp. is of public health concern, and highlights the need for public education on good hygienic practices, proper environmental sanitations, and adequate thermal treatment of chicken meat before consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
