[Microbiological studies of spiced beef burgers in Tripoli city, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya].

We investigated the microbiological quality of uncooked and cooked spiced beef burger in restaurants and fast food places in Tripoli city and surrounding areas. Thus 151 samples (92 cooked and 59 uncooked) were analysed microbiologically. The results showed that all samples were highly contaminated with bacteria; 74.5%, 28.8%, 27.1% and 18.6% of the uncooked samples were contaminated with Escherichia coli, Aeromonas spp., Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli O157:H7 respectively. Additionally 11.9%, 9.9%, 5.4% and 3.2% of the cooked samples were contaminated with E. coli, Aeromonas spp., E. coli O157:H7 and S. aureus respectively.