Potential Contamination Hotspots and Critical Control Points along Red Meat Value Chain between the Central Abattoir and Apata Butcher’s Stalls in Ibadan Nigeria

There is an avalanche of reports on foodborne bacteria causing different illnesses due to contamination of processing and transportation surfaces of foods. However, this study seeks to identify potential contamination hotspots, the foodborne bacteria capable of causing contamination and resistant bacterial isolates along red meat value chain from the Central abattoir Akinyele to Apata meat stalls in Ibadan. A total of 42 samples were collected from the abattoir (cutting surface, floor and wall), transportation vehicle (container and trunk) and meat stalls (table scrapings and axe/knife). The samples were subjected to microbiological analysis. The results showed variation in levels of contamination across the screened surfaces, with the identification of Salmonella sp., Escherichia coli, Clostridium sp., Shigella sp. and Staphylococcus sp., which are foodborne and of public health importance, but only Salmonella and Shigella sp. were subjected to antibacterial sensitivity testing using standard disk diffusion method (Kirby Bauer), The total bacterial count is highest in the vehicular trunk (6.75±0.20 x 105 /cfu/ml), followed by table scrapings at the butcher’s stalls (4.32±0.15 x 105 /cfu/ml) indicating high level of bacterial contamination. High antibiotics resistance prevalence was observed with the Salmonella isolates; Enrofloxacin (64%), Gentamycin (62%) and Oxytetracycline (56%). On the other hand, the Shigella isolates were resistant to the antibiotics at varying percentages, but with highest resistance prevalence of 74% for Ampicillin. Multi-drug resistance has been demonstrated against common antibiotics such as enrofloxacin, oxytetracycline and gentamycin, the resistance has also spread to the Fluoroquinolones (Ciprofloxacin at 54%) which are drugs of last resort. It is hereby recommended that proper hygiene and sanitary precautionary measures should be instituted and implemented across the red meat value chain. Consequently, we recommend that operators of the red meat value chains are trained on general hygiene, and also, antibiotic prescription and dispensing be handled by qualified personnel.