Assessment Microbiological Quality for Wild Birds Carcasses in Aswan Government, Egypt

Little information is available about health situation of game bird’s meats, particularly microbial hazards. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the bacteriological quality in breast and thigh meats (with skin) of males and females of four game bird species namely: Pintail (Anas acuta), shoveler (Spatula clypeata), Eurasian wigeon (Mareca Penelope) and Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus). The count of aerobic bacterial count was 3.96 to 5.80 and 4.28 to 5.90, Enterobacteriaceae 3.70 to 4.91 and 3.76 to 5.57, Staph. aureus 3.51 and 3.69, total Coliform bacteria 3.51 to 4.60 and 3.57 to 4.48, E. coli 3.01 to 4.84 and 2.95 to 4.76 log colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) in the breast and thigh meats, respectively. While, both of Pseudomonas and Clostridium perfringens were <10, yeasts <10 to 2.2×102 and molds <10 to 1×102 CFU/g in all the examined meat samples. Microbial numbers of aerobic bacterial count, staph. aureus, yeasts, and molds of the studied bird meats differ significantly (p>0.05). The highest numbers of aerobic bacterial count, staph. aureus, yeasts, and molds were observed in Pintail and Shoveler than wigeon and Egyptian goose birds, while the rest of microorganisms did not differ significantly (p<0.05). Neither Salmonella spp. nor Listeria monocytogenes could be isolated from the examined game bird carcasses. The public health aspects for the estimated and isolated microorganisms were discussed.