ABSTRACT

This study was aimed to comparatively analyze bacteria associated with frozen poultry chicken parts (thigh, breast, head and leg) sold in Umuahia metropolis, Nigeria. A total number of Twenty (20) samples were collected randomly from five (5) different retail outlets at different locations within Umuahia metropolis. During this study a total number of five (5) bacteria genera were isolated and identified. The identified bacteria genera were Escherichia coli (17.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (30.4%), Salmonella typhi(26.1%), Listeria monocytogens (13.1%), and Staphylococcus epidermidis (13.1%) for frozen poultry chicken. The mean value of the total bacteria count are 5.8x10⁵ for thigh, 5.6x10⁵ for breast, 3.4x10⁵ for head and 4.5x10⁵ for leg. It was shown that the thigh contained more bacteria than both the breast, head and the leg for the frozen chicken parts analysed. More also the frozen chicken parts were heavily contaminated. In conclusion, the contamination of the frozen chicken might be due to poor unhygienic habit observed during slaughtering, processing and storage. These suggest that most of the frozen chicken parts sold in Umuahia metropolis may constitute sources of bacterial food poisoning, consequently public health hazard. Frozen chicken should be heated thoroughly before consumption and strict hygienic measures should be taken during processing of both fresh and frozen chicken.