A Study on Bacterial Contamination of Butcher Hands Compared with the Efficacy of an Antibacterial Soap in Slaughter Houses of Telangana, India

Abstract

Meat contamination generally occurs when something which should not be there gets into it by any mode. This causes the decrease in shelf life of the food and reduction in quality of meat. In some cases, where food is not properly checked it can also cause food poisoning. One of the major cause of meat contamination is found to be unhygienic hands of the butchers who does not clean their hands with an antibacterial soap. In this study 64 volunteers from 8 slaughter houses were checked for and it was found that 100% meat handlers when washed their hands with an antibacterial soap showed no contamination of meat. Although hands with a count of 0 cfu.cm-2 were found in all of the slaughter houses, the results indicated that all the slaughter houses exceeded the legal limit for meat surfaces or hands of < 100 cfu.cm-2 when the average bacterial counts on hands were compared. The study revealed the hands hygiene was unsatisfactory and a proper education about hygienic habits among the butchers is required.