Abstract
The focus of the study was to analyze the commercially available meat for its heavy metal contents and bacterial contamination. The meat samples were collected from four commercial markets of Lahore, i.e., as Wafaqi Colony (Site I), Township (Site II), G-1 Market (Site III) and Zenith (Site IV), and analyzed for heavy metal [i.e., manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu)] contents and bacterial contaminants (E. coli, Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp. and Salmonella sp.) Atomic absorption spectrophotometery was employed for the detection of the heavy metals and plate count method was used for the detection of bacterial contaminants. The Ni concentration in the Site II sample only and Cd concentration in all meat samples were found above the standard value and the concentration of other metals (Cu, Cr, and Mn) was less than the standard concentrations. Bacterial (E. coli, Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., Salmonella sp. and Staphylococcus sp.) contamination was found in all meat samples; however, the number was a little lower in the Site IV samples. Statistical analysis was done, by one-way ANOVA using SPSS, to compare heavy metal contamination in the meat samples. The results showed distribution of heavy metals in all meat samples; there was significant difference of Ni concentration in the meat samples. The measure of antibiotic susceptibility showed that isolated species of bacteria were resistant to lincomycin, streptomycin, tertracyclin, ampicillin, amoxicillin and doxycyclin, but did not survive in the medium containing ofloxacin.
