Microbial contamination of luncheon meat sliced and packaged at supermarkets in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Mottin, VanessaFisch, ElisaCardoso, Marisa

Ready-to-eat (RTE) foods are considered a high risk food group, since they are often consumed without a cooking step. Luncheon meat, a RTE food widely consumed in Brazil, is traditionally produced as industrially vacuum-packaged loaves and afterwards is sliced and re-packaged at retail stores. Since this practice may pose an additional hazard of contamination, the purpose of this study was to evaluate total coliform counts (TCC), coagulase-positive staphylococci counts (CPS), and the occurrence of Escherichia coli and Listeria sp. in luncheon meat samples sliced and packaged at supermarkets.[...](AU)

1. luncheon meat
2. Ready-to-eat (RTE) foods
3. Coliforms
4. Listeria