Aerobic plate counts were determined by inoculating 0.1 ml of the homogenate sample onto triplicate sterile plates of prepoured and dried Standard Method Agar. Then, plates were incubated for 48 h at 35 C (ISO NF- 21149, 2006). Duplicates of each dilution (1 ml) of neutralized and non neutralized samples were pour-plated using Standard Method Agar (Oxoid, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England) and incubated at 30 C for 48 h. Plates containing 25–250 colonies were counted and the average number of CFU/g was calculated