The median counts of Enterobacteriaceae and E. coli in the positive results (Table 4) were lower than the minimum threshold (“m”) of the European Union (1.50 log CFU/cm2) for Enterobacteriaceae
(Europe Union, 2007) and the maximum threshold (“M”) of the United States (2.00 log CFU/cm2; USDA-FSIS, 1996) and Australia (1.30 log CFU/cm2; AQIS 2003) for E. coli biotype 1. Enterobacteriaceae and E. coli suggest the possibility of pathogens, including Salmonella spp., because they are indicative of hygienic status and contamination
of fecal origin; thus, they are used in the assessment and validation processes of HACCP systems (Milios et al., 2014).