Purpose: The objectives of the study were to collect baseline information on bacterial contamination in retail ground beef offered for sale in Saskatchewan and to assess any differences in bacterial contamination based on information available to the consumer at the point of sale.
Methods: Ground beef samples (n = 309) were purchased from May 2011 through May 2012 based on season, geographic region, and census data. Samples were categorized as being from facilities that were federally regulated or licensed by provincial government (n = 126), licensed by local health regions (n = 80), or unknown (n = 103). Total aerobic plate counts (TAPC) and total E. coli plate counts (TEPC) were determined using 3MTM PetrifilmTMmethods. Total bacterial contamination (TBC) was estimated using real-time quantitative PCR with a universal 16S RNA bacterial target. The data were analyzed using linear regression to account for season and whether samples were fresh or frozen at purchase.
Results: TAPC and TBC significantly differed among all three study categories (P < 0.001). The highest TAPC and highest TBC estimates were observed in repackaged samples with no inspection information on the label legend. TAPC and TEPC in samples from federally regulated or provincially licensed facilities were significantly lower than samples from both locally licensed facilities (P = 0.002) and samples with no inspection information on the label legend (P = 0.01).
Significance: The lowest average general bacterial contamination measured as TAPC, TEPC, and TBC was observed in samples with label legends indicating they were from federally regulated or provincially licensed production facilities.