Vol 10, No 10, April 2019.

Diversity and Abundance of Aeromycobiota in Collecting Rooms, Slaughterhouses and Meat Retail Shops at Taiz City, Yemen


Airborne microbial contamination is a significant issue in the places of meat and meat products that have linked with adverse health effects. The incidence and distribution of mycobiota in the air of collecting room, slaughterhouse and popular markets were detected using Czapek’s agar medium at 7 and 28 ± 2 ºC. The results indicated that the atmosphere of the three sites were heavily contaminated with moulds especially at 28 ºC. A total of 533 and 706 colonies/320 m³; 89 and 64 colonies/768 m³ and 34 and 208 colonies/560 m³ were collected from the air in all samples of the three sites, respectively. Fifty- four species related to 17 genera were isolated from the three sites at 7 and 28 ± 2 ºC. The atmosphere of the collecting room was highly polluted with moulds, but the popular markets having wide spectra of genera and species especially at high temperature. The ability of common fungi isolated in the current study for protease and lipase were screened. The results revealed that most isolates tested were able to produce the enzymes. Among 105 isolates tested, 87 (82.9%) and 57 (54.3%) could produce the two enzymes, respectively. From the positive isolates 4(4.6%) and 1 (1.8%) exhibited high proteolytic and lipolytic production, whereas 26 (29.9%) and 7 (12.3%) showed moderate production and 57 (65.5%) and 49 (86.0%) were weak producers. Several saprobes such as members of Aspergillus and Penicillium as well as others fungal genera are contaminated the meat products causing deterioration of meat. Also, the distribution of these fungi in such habitats which are in close association with human activities is a risk factor for the infections caused by these fungal species. So, it is important to take in consideration the different methods for prevention the fungal growth. Further knowledge of the contamination sources in the production environment would be beneficial in order to be able to control their presence in the processing plants.