Abstract
The study was not only carried out to assess surface microbial contamination of camel and mutton carcasses but also to evaluate thepersonnel hygiene. Twenty camel and mutton carcasses were swabbed and surface excised within a period of 5 months in Al-Ahsaa central abattoir located ateastem region of Saudi Arabia, Further, 10 personnel hands were also swabbed from the persons who have direct contact with carcasses. Microbial assessment includedtotal aerobic bacterial, total enterobacteriaceae, S. aureus (identified by VITEK 2 technique) and total yeast and mould were enumerated as means SE. Results revealed an increase ofenterobacteriaceae counts on mutton carcasses. Regarding the microbial counts in mutton carcasses, there was no significant difference (p<0.05) between swabbing and surface excision methodsin camel carcasses, significant differences between the two methods in total bacterial count (p <= 0.02), enterobacteriaceae count (p <= 0.001), total yeast and mould count (p <= 0.001). No salmonella sp. was detected from all examined samples. Furthermore, the members of enterobacteriaceae recovered from the examined samples using VITEK 2 technique were E. coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella oxytoca, Sphingomonas paucimobilis, Pseudomonas luteola, Me thylobacterium sp., Proteus mirabilis, Raultella ornithinolytica, Serratia liquefaciens and Enterobacter hormaechei with various percentages ranged from 3.33-23.33% in camel carcasses and from 6.67-20.00% in mutton carcasses. Personnel hands were highly contaminated. The results proved that Al-Ahsaa abattoir pose a medium risk through, the poor quality of the prepared carcasses due to the increased microbial load. This study clarified the public health importance of existed microorganisms and recommended the feasible methods for improving the sanitary status of carcasses.