Microbiological Quality and Safety of Fresh Quail Meat at the Retail Level.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality and safety of 37 fresh quail meats. Mesophiles, spp., , and staphylococci counts were 5.25 ± 1.14, 3.92 ± 1.17, 3.09 ± 1.02, and 2.80 ± 0.64 log CFU/g, respectively. was detected in seven samples (18.92%). was detected in one sample (2.70%). was not detected in any sample. The dominant bacteria were spp. (30.46%), (19.87%), lactic acid bacteria (14.57%), and (11.92%). and enterococci were isolated to a lesser extent, 7.28% and 1.99%, respectively. The dominant found were (42.53%). ESBL-producing was detected in one sample (2.70%), showing resistance to 16 antibiotics. Sixteen different spp. and three spp. were identified, the most common being (19.86%) and (17.02%). and were also found in one and four samples, respectively. Methicillin-resistant and were found in 13.51% and 10.81% of quail samples, respectively. These bacteria showed an average of 6.20 and 18.50 resistances per strain, respectively. The high resistance observed in ESBL-producing and methicillin-resistant is of special concern. Measures should be adopted to reduce the contamination of quail meat.