Detectión of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in ground beef from the Municipal Market of Alajuela, Costa Rica.

Abstract

The presence of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was 
determined in ground beef sold in nine butcher shops in the Municipal 
Market of Alajuela, Costa Rica. In addition, the hygiene present in these 
places was evaluated in order to determine their relationship, this making 
use of checklists which were made taking into account some items of the 
Food Handling Manual of the National Institute of Learning as its acronym 
in Spanish is (INA). For the realization of the bacteriological cultures of the 
ground meat samples obtained, the quantitative Petrifilm™ methods 
specific to both bacteria were used.  
The results showed that ground beef had both bacteria, even 
reaching countless amounts, while the T-Student test determined that the 
mean of E. coli and S. aureus corresponded to 59 CFUs/g and 415 CFUs/g respectively, values that exceed what is allowed by the RTC 67.04.50:17, 
which is similar to those reported by other Latin American countries. On 
the other hand, the growth of both bacteria did not depend on the meat 
category since (p>0.05).