Microbial and heavy metal assessment of water used for carcass processing in four slaughter slabs in Akure Metropolis

Abstract

Many abattoirs in Nigeria still dispose their waste directly into streams or rivers and also use water from the same sources for carcass processing. A study was therefore conducted to evaluate the microbial load and heavy metal levels of water used for meat processing in four different slaughter slabs within Akure metropolis. Samples of water were collected from the water sources, the bowls used for water collection and the processing line. Microbial loads the samples were assessed using standard microbiological techniques, while the levels of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) was determined using the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results of the microbial evaluation indicated that all the water samples collected had high microbial load ranging from 12.75±9.91 to 0.50±0.00×105CFU/ ml, which exceeded the WHO limits of 10cfu per 100ml of water and were heavily contaminated with pathogenic organisms such as; Salmonella spp, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus faecalis. The micro-organisms isolated showed varied levels of susceptibility with mean zones of inhibition ranging from (10.00 - 0.00 mm) to the different antibiotics tested for. The heavy metal analysis revealed that the levels of Cd was higher than WHO limits (0.005ppm) with the highest level observed in water samples from slaughter slab A (0.07 ± 0.035ppm) and the lowest in samples from slaughter slab C (0.04 ± 0.011ppm), while Pb levels observed was also above WHO limits of (0.015ppm) except in slaughter slab C (0.02±0.02ppm). This investigation showed that the use of contaminated water for meat processing portends a serious public health risk to consumers.