A total of 143 samples of meat were examined in this study, these
represents 67 samples of locally minced meat, 31 samples of imported
minced meat and 45 samples of imported chicken meat. The samples were
collected from different areas of Baghdad city during the period from
January till May 2006.
Detection, isolation an enumeration of E.coli 0157:H7 were carried out.
The result revealed that there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the
isolation percentage and the microbial counts of E.coli 0157:H7 when
comparing the three types of meat. The highest prevalence were found in the
locally minced meat (80% ; 1.6 x 107 cfu/g) Followed by the imported
minced meat (65% ;5.9x106cfu/g) and finally chicken meat
(56%; 2.7 x 106 cfu/g).