Red meat is considered worldwide as one of the essential foods for human diet, because
it is the main source of vital proteins as well as lipids and salts. Beef meat burgers
communally sold in fast food shops due to its pleasant taste despite the possibility of
causing food poisoning and illness if it has been prepared from contaminated raw meat.
Our study was planned to detect the microbial quality of beef burger sold in Libyan´s
butchers. The investigation was based on 75 samples which were collected randomly
from various sources; small and large butchers. Extracts from the samples were
propagated on different agar media in order to determine the total number of aerobic
bacteria, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The results of this study
showed that all beef burgers were free of contamination with Salmonella. The results
also showed the presence of varying numbers of bacteria, such as Gram positive and
Gram negative bacteria. The total number of aerobic bacteria was found to be between
5×10^3 to 6×10^3 log(cfu/ml), and the total number of Staphylococcus aureus was between
2×10^2 to 5×10^4 cfu/ml and lowest number recorded was Escherichia coli (4×10^2 to
7×10^3 cfu/ml). All of these recorded numbers of Bacteria are within the Libyan
specification standard (2009).
Key words: Lean red meat, salmonella, poisoning and disease, the general census of bacteria.
Libyan standards for meat in 2009.