DETECTION OF CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS, HEAVY METALS, AND MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION IN POULTRY MEAT AVAILABLE IN LOCAL MARKETS

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the physico-chemical properties that included (pH, peroxide value, percentage of free fatty acids) and microbial contamination that included the numbers of total bacteria, total coliform bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, and salmonella bacteria, as well as contamination with heavy metals that included Zinc, lead, cadmium, and copper for some types of frozen chicken available in the local markets of Baghdad. The study results showed that the highest average peroxide value was 13.85 ± 0.82 ml equivalents/kg in chicken wings from the Kafeel product, while the percentage of free fatty acids was 1.93 ± 0.26% in wings from the Sadia product. Total bacterial counts, Staphylococcus aureus counts, and coliform counts were significantly increased, reaching 8 × 10⁴ cfu/ml, 9 × 10² cfu/ml, and 6 × 10² cfu/ml, respectively. As for Salmonella bacteria, the samples showed that they were free of this bacteria. The highest values for heavy metals were found in the liver samples of the Al-Kafeel product, reaching 2.21 ± 0.17 mg/kg, which was higher than the permissible limit compared to the other samples in the study. The remaining elements were within the permissible limits.