Evaluation of microbiology and nutritive quality of exotic meats

Abstract

Vacuum-packed and frozen of ostrich (Struthio camelus), alligator (Caiman latirostris) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) meat samples were obtained in an authorized commercial store in Maringá/Paraná. Of each kind meat were analyzed 6 samples, where were studied counts of mesophilic aerobic bacteria, aerobic bacteria psichrophilic, coliforms, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus spp., and protein and fat analysis. The results of aerobic mesophilic bacteria ranged between <1.0 a 3.6 log CFU/g, being the biggest counting in ostrich meat. The meat that had the biggest counting of micro-organisms psychrotrophs was also the ostrich, but even so, it was not considered high, ranging between 2.3 and 2.7 log CFU/g. There were no counting for coliforms and E. coli on wild boar and alligator meats (except sample 4 of wild boar meat that had a count of 1.0 log CFU/g of coliforms) but, all ostrich meat had count, ranged between 1.3 a 2.7 log CFU/g. In generally, the literature shows that wild animals meats have higher protein values (19.5 to 22.8% CP) than domestic animals, this values agree with the values found in this work, 19.9 to 29.9% CP.