Bacteriological, physicochemical and histological assessment of marketed beef burger in the Egyptian market

This study aimed to assess the safety and quality of the beef burger sold in the Egyptian market. Hundred samples of marketed beef burger were collected from different retail markets in Cairo and Giza governorates. Samples subjected to sensory, physicochemical, bacteriological as well as histological examinations. The findings revealed that examined samples have low scores of sensory attributes. Moreover, chemical examinations of samples showed very low protein (8.80%), high moisture (66.12%), and high fat (20.45%) content. Deterioration criteria of samples indicated that the mean pH value was 5.60±0.05, high TBA value (0.66±0.02 mg malonaldehyde/kg), and high TVBN value (18.74± 0.32 mg % sample) but their values not exceeded the permissible limit by ESS 1688/2005. Evaluation of cooking characteristics of examined samples indicated that the mean values of cooking loss, moisture retention, fat retention, diameter reduction, shrinkage and water holding capacity percentages were 23.66, 31.50, 83.52, 17.31, 19.76 and 75.15% respectively. Furthermore, bacteriological examination of samples indicated high bacterial load. The APC, psychrotrophic, Staphylococci, coliforms and fecal coliform counts (log10 CFU/g) were 7.69, 6.09, 5.43, 3.84 and 2.25. The incidence of Staph. aureus, Salmonellae and E. coli in the marketed beef burger were 40%, 0 % and 60% respectively where all the isolated E. coli was belonging to the serovar O114:K90. The histological details of marketed beef burger illustrated that the skeletal muscles were the predominant structure which loss its organizational structure as signs for autolysis. Different tissues were also observed as wall of blood vessels, connective tissue, bone, cartilage, adipose tissue, and tissues of plant origin. Therefore, strict inspection on processing meat plants should be applied to improve the product safety and quality of this product.