Microbiology of frozen goat meat and toxin production by Bacillus cereus isolated therefrom.

Microbial analysis of commercial samples of freshly frozen goat meat and those stored at - 12 degrees C for one week revealed high counts of aerobic bacteria, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococci. These counts increased with storage. Psychrophilic bacteria were higher in number than mesophiles. The counts of Salmonella were zero CFU/g in both freshly frozen and stock frozen meat. No yeast or moulds were encountered. Mouse tests of crude culture filtrate of B. cereus and preparations from meat samples confirmed the production of toxin.