Hygienic status of meat selling at road side shops in various areas of Karachi, Pakistan

The aim of the present study was to determine the hygienic status of red meat supplied to Karachi, and to observe the antibiotic resistance pattern of bacteria isolated from these samples. The meat samples were collected from open air local retail shops, situated in different areas of Karachi. A total of 50 isolates were selected as representatives of various samples. All the isolates were Gram-negative bacteria belonging to group of enteric bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Klebsiella spp. The antibiotic resistance among these isolates were determined, these includes Amoxil, Cefizox, Gentamicin, Septran (sulphurmethaxole-trimethoprim) and Streptomycin. The mean resistance against these antibiotics was 5, 8.3, 0, 25 and 8.3%, respectively. The prevalence of resistance was the highest for Amoxil followed by Septran, Cefizox and Streptomycin, while all the isolates were sensitive to Gentamicin.