Abstract
Red meat consumption (chevon, beef, and lamb) is one of the most traditional favorable dishes and remain in the modern lifestyle. Chevon is the meet of adult goats and it is considered one of the beef and sheep meat competitor. It is characterized by its lower calories content in comparison to beef content, total fat; "cholesterol and saturated fat" which maintain consumers health. Studies on chevon-microbial interactions are not fulfilled globally, therefore, we aimed to achieve microbial survey and molecular identification of chevon meat food contaminants from different markets of Makkah region, Saudi Arabia. A total of 50 chevon samples were purchased from different retail markets within Makah from September 2019 until January 2020. Samples were transported to the laboratory in a cooler. They were macerated in peptone water and then cultured on selective media of some indicator's microorganisms. About; 2.1x105, 2.1x104, 2.1x105, 1.2x10, 1.5x105, 2.5x105, 1.6x105, 3.7x105 CFU/g were the mean of total aerobic counts, anaerobic count, Enterobacteriacea spp. and Staphylococcus spp. counts respectively. All tested chevon meat samples were within permissible limit and fit for human consumption. Molecular Identification of isolated microorganism were as following; Staphylococcus sciuri were 2/9 (22.2), while; for all, Aeromonas enteropelogenes, Escherichia fergusonii, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus lentus were 1/9 (11.1) respectively. This is the first report isolated of Aeromonas enteropelogenes from chevon meat. All isolated microorganisms had public health concern as food poisoning microorganisms. Further investigation needed to study the chevon meat and its microbial quality.