Abstract

Eight triplicate samples of meat pie were randomly sampled from standard eatery and local kiosk in Benin City and analyzed microbiologically for the rates ofStaphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The mean microbial load on the fresh meat pie from the standard eatery ranged from 3x10³ – 5x10³cfu/g while the air preserved and refrigerated meat pie for (2 days) ranged between 2.3 x10⁴ -3.8 x10⁴ cfu/g and 8x 10³-1.5 x10⁴ cfu/g respectively. The mean microbial load of the fresh meat pie from the local kiosk ranged between 7x10³-2.8x10⁴ cfu/g while the air preserved and refrigerated meat pie for 2days ranged between 3x10^-4 to too numerous to count (TNTC) and 1.3 x10⁴ -2.8x10⁴ cfu/g respectively. Six genera of the isolated bacteria include Staphylococcus, E. coli, klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Enterococcus. Statistical analysis of the mean microbial load showed a significant difference (P<0.05) between control and air preserved meat pie and no significant difference in the mean microbial load between control and refrigerated meat pie were (P>0.05).

Key words: Escherichia coli, meat pie, mean microbial load, Staphylococcus.