have been extensively studied in terms of microbiological safety, health benefits, and process technology ( Petit et al., 2014 Santiyanont et al., 2019 Tamang et al., 2020). Meat and meat products are important dietary cultures of many communities in the world, among which some popular meat products such as sausages, hams, salami, etc. Gram-positive bacteria showed 100% sensitivity against clindamycin and erythromycin however, 50% of the resistance pattern was observed against oxacillin followed by penicillin (33%) and ampicillin (27%).

The antibiotic sensitivity test showed that all bacterial strains were susceptible toward gentamicin, cotrimoxazole, norfloxacin, and trimethoprim. No enterotoxins were detected in khyopeh samples. aureus PSST53 isolated from pork kargyong. piscifermentans BULST54 isolated from beef kargyong and in S. However, the PCR method did not detect the virulence genes of B. cereus well as Staphylococcus in a few tested samples. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests detected Salmonella spp. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the bacterial species isolated from traditionally processed meat products were Staphylococcus piscifermentans, Citrobacter freundii, Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella enterica, Staphylococcus aureus, Citrobacter werkmanii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Macrococcus caseolyticus, Klebsiella aerogenes, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Pseudocitrobacter anthropi, Citrobacter europaeus, Shigella sonnei, Escherichia fergusonii, Klebsiella grimontii, Burkholderia cepacia, and Bacillus cereus. The microbial loads of aerobic bacteria were 10 5 to 10 7 cfu/g, Staphylococcus 10 3 to 10 6 cfu/g, Bacillus 10 4 to 10 6 cfu/g, and total coliform 10 2 to 10 7 cfu/g, respectively. The pH and moisture contents of the meat products varied from 5.3 to 5.9 and from 1.5 to 18%, respectively. The present study aimed to assess the microbiological safety of traditional meat products by identifying the potential spoilage or pathogenic bacteria, detecting the enterotoxins, and screening the antibiotic susceptibility patterns.

The lesser-known traditionally processed meat products such as beef kargyong, pork kargyong, satchu, and khyopeh are popular food items in the Himalayan state of Sikkim in India.

Gelatin hydrolysis test reagent