The microbial ecology of biltong in South Africa during production and at point -of-sale
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Date
2010-07-09T10:38:19Z
Authors
Naidoo, Keshia
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Abstract
The aim of this work was to determine the microbial ecology of Biltong, a South
African national snack commodity at point-of-sale and during production. It was
established that biltong at point-of-sale carried bacterial counts ranging from ca. 6- 7
Log CFU/ g of aerobic mesophilic, ca. 2.5- 4 Log CFU/ g of Enterobacteriaceae, ca.
1.5- 3 Log CFU/ g of coliforms, ca. 1- 3 Log CFU/ g of presumptive Staphylococcus
and ca. 1 Log CFU/ g of Escherichia coli populations in descending order.
Furthermore, foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella
dysenteriae and enterotoxin-producing Staphylococcus aureus were prevalent in low
incidences (0.5- 2 %) in biltong product at point-of-sale and highlighted the potential
of biltong as a reservoir for potential foodborne pathogens. It was shown that the type
of biltong preparation method utilised in the production of biltong significantly
influenced the survival of potential foodborne pathogens on the final product. In
particular, enterotoxin-producing Staphylococcus strains were shown to survive
throughout. Although, processing had a significant effect on the survival of bacterial
pathogens on biltong product, the environment and conditions employed at point-ofsale
further contributed to cross-contamination of biltong product prior to
consumption.