Gram-negative bacteria isolated from the abattoir effluent on surface water of River Katsinaala in rainy and dry seasons were Escherichia coli; Klebsiella spp; Proteus vulgaris; Salmonella typhi and Gram-positive bacterium isolated was Streptococcus faecalis. In rainy season, the lowest mean bacterial count was from E.coli (0.0067+0.031 CFU/ml) and highest mean bacterial count from Salmonella typhi (0.0262+0.0079 CFU/ml). In the dry season, lowest mean bacterial count was from Proteus vulgaris (0.0081+ 0.0047 CFU/ml) and the highest from Streptococcus faecalis (0.0097+ 0.05 CFU/ml). The presence of Escherichia coli indicates possible faecal contamination. The results revealed that bacterial load was within the accepted maximum limit by WHO (2004); nevertheless, the disease causing bacteria pose threat to human health when water from the river is consumed without treatment.
In recent years food safety has been encouraged at the primary production stage through advice and mandated during food processing by legislation. On the farm, several pre-harvest interventions such as competitive inhibition, reduction in hide soiling, vaccination as well as diet manure and slurry management have been explored to control pathogens like Escherichia coli O157. During slaughter chemical dehairing, hide decontamination and carcass decontamination activities have been researched. The objective of this paper is to present an short review of these suggested controls in a risk management framework with E. coli O157 as the target pathogen.