Incidence and level of Salmonella serovars in raw pork obtained from mexican butcher shops

The Salmonella most probable number (MPN g-1), the serovars present and the aerobic plate counts (APC) were determined for 61 raw pork samples collected from 56 butcher shops in Guadalajara, Mexico. At sampling time, sample temperature ranged from 12-16�C. The Salmonella counts in 50 g samples ranged from 0�03 MPN g-1 while 28, 54 and 74% were <0�9, 9 and 23 MPN g-1, respectively. The 10 most commonly isolated serovars were S. agona, S. derby, S. anatum, S. meleagridis, S. enteridis, S. worthington, S. give, S. manhattan, S. typhimurium and S. brandenburg. Thirty percent of the samples contained five to as many as 10 different serovars. The correlation between Salmonella counts and APC was not significant (<0�01) and the median APC count was 6�1 log10 cfu g-1. These results suggest that raw pork was exposed to multiple contamination sources during slaughter and fabrication, and storage at unsafe temperatures. � 1995 Academic Press Limited