Bacteriological Evaluation of Frankfurters in the Canadian Retail Market
The bacteriological quality of 180 units of frankfurters, obtained from grocery stores in Ontario (Canada) was investigated. About 67% of the samples had aerobic plate counts (APC) in the range of 107 – 109/g; 48% had APCs in the range of 108–109/g and APCs of four samples exceeded 109/g. One sample was positive for Staphylococcus aureus and three samples contained Escherichia coli. Enterococci (<1000/g) were recovered from 48 samples. Aerobic plate counts of cooked frankfurters from snackbars did not exceed 500/g. Cooking of frankfurters for 6.5 min at 90 C resulted in APCs of <100/g. Neither salmonellae nor Clostridium perfringens were isolated. It was concluded that temperature abuse following manufacture was mainly responsible for the high counts.