Bacterial analysis of barbecued meat (Suya) from selected locations within Abuja, Nigeria

Barbecued meat, popularly known as `Suya' in Nigeria, is eaten by most Nigerians. However, the raw meat is sometimes prepared in unhygienic environments. This study examines the possibility of contracting infectious food and water borne diseases as a result of eating microbial contaminated barbecued meat. Meat samples were collected from four locations-Baze University, Kubwa, Lugbe and Maitama within FCT, Abuja, Nigeria. Microbial analysis of the samples showed bacterial contamination of all the barbecued meat sampled from the different locations. These meat samples were contaminated with indicator bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Providencia spp, Bacillus spp, and Pseudomonas aeroginosa. Comparative analysis of the total aerobic bacterial count revealed a significantly higher concentration of bacteria in the barbecued meat compared to the raw meat samples. The specific bacteria were on average about 1.5-5.9 times higher in the barbecued meat relative to the raw meat samples. This alarming trend was observed in all selected locations. In addition, the bacterial contamination of the barbecued meat sampled from Baze University was significantly lower (6.0 × 10
⁵
CFU/g) in comparison to the barbecued meat from the other locations: Lugbe - 31.2 ×10
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CFU/g, Kubwa - 34.0 × 10
⁵
CFU/g and Maitama - 42.6 × 10
⁵
CFU/g, with the latter being the most contaminated. The implications of this result in relation to human health and hygiene are discussed.