The method presented in this paper should prove useful in assessing the effectiveness of HACCP plans developed in slaughterhouses. Samples were collected by swabbing well-defined areas of pork and beef carcasses with sterile gauze. Between 160 and 420 half-carcasses were swabbed in each of nine pork or beef slaughterhouses. Swabs from five carcasses were placed in the same sterile Stomacher bag, constituting a single composite sample. Standard or validated analytical methods were used to isolate and characterize four foodbome pathogens. Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter spp., and verocytotoxin-producing E. coli were detected, respectively, in 27, 2, 2, and 14% of the pork samples and 0, 22. 10, and 5% of the beef samples. Of the 10 samples positive for E. coli O157, only one yielded an isolate confirmed to be entcrohemorrhagic. Since Salmonella spp. appear as the main contaminant of pork (27%) and L. monocytogenes as the main contaminant of beef (22%), any slaughterhouse sampling plan should include testing for the former in the case of pork carcasses and for the latter in the case of beef carcasses. One should also test regularly for the presence of E. coli O157 and Campylobacter spp. in pork and beef abattoirs. The method presented here is an easy way to assess the contamination rate of carcasses at the end of the slaughtering process.
Aims: Bovine meat is the principal source of human contamination of attaching and effacing Escherichia coli, including enterohaemorrhagic E. coli O157. The aim was to study the prevalence of these strains on bovine carcasses in Algeria.
Methods and Results: Two‐hundred and thirty carcasses were swabbed and analysed by classical microbiological methods for total E. coli counts and for the presence of pathogenic E. coli. The E. coli counts were high, with a 75th percentile of 444·75 CFUs cm−2. For pathogenic E. coli, more than 7% of the tested carcasses were positive for E. coli O157. Eighteen E. coli O157 strains were isolated and typed by multiplex PCR. The main isolated pathotype (78%) was eae+ stx2+ ehxA+. In addition to E. coli O157, other attaching and effacing E. coli (AEEC) were also detected from carcasses by colony hybridization after pre‐enrichment and plating on sorbitol MacConkey agar using eae, stx1 and stx2 probes. Thirty carcasses (13%) on the 230 analysed harboured at least one colony positive for one of the tested probes. These positive carcasses were different from those positive for E. coli O157. Sixty‐six colonies (2·9%) positive by colony hybridization were isolated. The majority (60·6%) of the positive strains harboured an enteropathogenic E. coli‐like pathotype (eae+ stx−). Only three enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC)‐like (eae+ stx1+) colonies were isolated from the same carcass. These strains did not belong to classical EHEC serotypes.
Conclusions: In this study, the global hygiene of the slaughterhouse was low, as indicated by the high level of E. coli count. The prevalence of both E. coli O157 and other AEEC was also high, representing a real hazard for consumers.
Significance and Impact of the Study: This is the first study of this type in Algeria, which indicates that the general hygiene of the slaughterhouse must be improved.
Since 2010, Quality Assurance (QA) has been officially adopted and has become a priority of the Higher Education (HE) system in Algeria. This study is part of this framework and aims to explore the role of leadership in the QA process as perceived by Quality Management Managers (QMRs). It is based on a qualitative approach through interviews with 27 QMRs from different institutions. Content analysis technique was used to analyse data.
The results show that QMRs consider the lack of commitment and involvement of institutions’ higher management as a major constraint to the success of quality processes. The study reveals that the main barrier to QA is related to the limitations of institutions’ governance, which do not promote autonomy and effectiveness. The study suggests that two elements seem to be crucial: autonomy and training/awareness of institutions’ higher managers. Those elements are closely linked and could be at the origin of the success or failure of quality mechanisms.
A survey of the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) of O157 serotype in foodstuffs of animal origin (beef, veal, pork, chicken, fish) from 1999 to 2003 in Belgium was performed. STEC strains were only isolated from beef with a prevalence of 0.73%. This percentage is low in comparison with the prevalence in other countries. Among the 76 isolated STEC O157 strains, 75% belonged to the serotype O157:H7 and 25% to the serotype O157 non H7. Moreover, the most frequent pathotype was eae stx2 ehxA (74%).
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