Abstract

Due to some health related problems believed to be associated with the consumption of red meat, hides also known as kanda or kpomo in most part of Nigeria have become a substitute for red meat considering its availability and lower cost. Considering the importance and high demand for these products, abattoir workers have develop different methods and substance used as fuel in singeing the product to meet demand. The present study investigated the microbial quality and metal residues in hide singed with scrap automobile tyres. Standard pour plate method was used to for the bacteriological analysis and the AOAC methods using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) was used to determine the heavy metal residues in the hide. The results of the study showed that the singed hides were contaminated at varying level with mean bacterial count ranging from 2.0×10⁵CFU/g to 3.5×10⁵CFU/g for the Total heterotrophic bacteria while the coliform count ranged from 1.0×10⁵CFU/g to 2.1×10⁵CFU/g. The study implicated the presence of seven bacteria species which included; Bacillus, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Streptococcus, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter and Serratia sp. The results also showed higher levels of Cupper (6.4mg/kg), Cadmium (1.7mg/kg), Magnesium (12.3mg/kg), Lead (2.4mg/kg), Zinc (43.2mg/kg), Nickel (1.8mg/kg) and Manganese, not detected compared to the un-singed hide with lower concentrations of heavy metals (Copper 2.3 mg/kg., Cadmium 0.2mg/kg., Magnesium 5.2mg/kg., Lead 0.4mg/kg., Zinc 15.02mg/kg., Nickel, 0.6mg/kg and Manganese, not detected). The presence of this bacteria species and heavy metals in the singed hide calls for urgent attention as their presence in the such food sample represent possible health hazard to consumers.