Meat is highly nutritious, being a good source of various nutrients especially protein, fat and vitamins. Its composition is ideal for the growth of a wide array of spoilage bacteria. Food-borne infections outbreaks affect both developing and developed nations. The infections caused by emerging pathogens like Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli 0157, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio vulnificus, Campylobacter specis and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in raw retail meat could be more severe and result in a health hazards. It is well-known that emerging pathogenic microorganisms in meat is of public health concern as it lingers the health statue of human being as well imposes burden on the socio-economy worldwide. Arise is the need to have appropriate techniques and safety measures to identify and eradicate those pathogenic organisms to combat their post effects on meat in order to achieve wholesome meat which will in turn decrease the risk of been ill by the consumers. Hence, this review brought to the lime light the techniques for identification of emerging pathogenic microorganisms in meat and safety mechanism. Several techniques have been arose to examine the emergence of infective microorganisms in foods including meat such techniques include: immunological, nucleic acid probe, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and multiplex PCR, Whole genome sequencing (WGS) etc. WGS is the recent and advanced technique of molecular-based technology and can be used to distinguish between strain levels of organisms and pinpoint particular organisms in the food by sequencing the complete set of organisms DNA (genome) in one process and thus, allowing an outbreak to be detected and solved sooner. In addition, various novel non-thermal methods; high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), pulsed electric field (PEF), ultrasound (US), cold plasma, dense phase carbon dioxide, ozone, and pulsed light (PL) could offer several advantages in eradication of pathogens from the meat and preserving the delicate sensory and nutritional qualities compared to thermal processing of meat where some meat compositions could be loss during heating.

Keywords: Developing Countries, Emerging pathogenic organisms, Food-borne infections, Meat