الكشف عن بعض الملوثات الجرثومية في الوجبات الجاهزة (الشيش - الشاورما) المستهلكة في مدينة حماة

Abstract

This study examined bacterial contamination in ready-to-eat chicken products by collecting 40 randomly sampled specimens of ready-to-eat (RTE) products (20 chicken shish kebabs and 20 chicken shawarmas) from 20 restaurants across five suburbs in Hama City. Sampling was distributed with four restaurants selected from each suburb .The results showed that the highest mean total bacterial count in both shish kebab and shawarma samples was found in samples from restaurants in the first suburb, exceeding the permissible limits according to syrian standard specifications, with significant differences between shish kebab and shawarma samples (P < 0.05). Contamination was observed in 55% of both shish kebab samples and 60 %  shawarma samples. Staphylococcus aureus contamination was detected in 45% of shish kebab samples and 50% of shawarma samples, with significant differences between the two (P < 0.05). Listeria contamination was found in 10% of both shish kebab and shawarma samples, with no significant differences between them (P > 0.05). Notably, contamination with Staphylococcus and Listeria exceeded permissible limits in shish kebab and shawarma samples from restaurants in the first and second suburbs but was within safe levels in the remaining restaurants. Salmonella contamination was higher than the permissible limit (which strictly prohibits any presence of Salmonella) in shish kebab and shawarma samples from restaurants in the first, second, and third suburbs, with significant differences between the two sample types (P < 0.05). The contamination rate was 15% in shish kebab samples and 20% in shawarma samples. Additionally, Escherichia coli contamination exceeded permissible limits in shish kebab and shawarma samples from restaurants in the first suburb, as well as in one shawarma sample from a restaurant in the second suburb. The contamination rate for E. coli was 15% in both shish kebab and shawarma samples, with highly significant differences between the two (P < 0.01). No significant differences were observed among samples from all studied suburbs (P > 0.05). The study also revealed that eight restaurants (40% of the studied restaurants) were entirely free of bacterial contamination. Samples from restaurants in the first suburb were the most contaminated, while those from the fourth suburb were the least contaminated.