Ten gram frankfurters were taken aseptically from each batch in each treatment, transferred to sterile plastic pouches and homog- enized for 1 min at room temperature with 90 mL of autoclaved 0.85% sodium chloride solution using a stomacher Lab-Blender 400 (Seward Medical, London). Serial dilutions were made in sterilized diluted solution and aerobic mesophilic bacteria were determined by spreading 1 mL of appropriate dilutions onto 3 M Petrifilm Aerobic Count Plate (3M Health Care., Paul, MN, USA) incubated for 48 h at 30 o C. Each sample was done in duplicates and total aerobic mesophilic bacteria were expressed as log10 numbers of colony forming units/gram (cfu/g).