English abstract
The bacterial contamination of eggs on sale in the Sultanate of Oman was investigated. In total 520 eggs from five producers, three Omani and two overseas producers, were studied. The eggs were collected from retailers, which are using different storage temperatures. Overall, the frequency of internal contamination with Salmonella spp. was 0.2%, but reached 2% for one producer. In addition, species of Serratia, Klebsiella and Pantoea were isolated from egg contents. Staphylococcous and Micrococcus species were the most frequently isolated. In general, eggs stored at higher temperatures (30 °C) and eggs produced during the hotter months had higher bacterial counts than eggs stored at lower temperatures (10 °C) or produced during the cooler months. A positive correlation between storage period of eggs and bacterial counts was observed with eggs exceeding 80 days having higher plate counts. The effect of packaging materials on the survival of Escherichia coli showed hat the Escherichia coli survived better on molded paper pulp (MPP) than expanded polystyrene (EPS).
