Contamination rate of chicken samples by total coliform
bacteria was found to be 97% while contamination by E.
coli was 78%. The average E. coli and coliform counts
for all samples in general were observed to be above the
acceptable range for E. coli counts as set by the Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Point system (HACCP),
developed by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission
(3.911 and 5.0261Log10cfu/ml respectively). According
to this system, the acceptable food safety range is
100 cfu/ml or less (2.000 Log10cfu/ml or less), the marginal
or intermediate range is over 100 cfu/ml but not
above 1000 cfu/ml (over 2.000 but not above 3.000
Log10cfu/ml) and the unacceptable range is above
1000 cfu/ml (above 3.000 Log10cfu/ml) [27]. Only 80
(40%) out of a total 200 retail chicken samples that were
purchased fell under the acceptable range for E. coli
counts. 76% of samples fell under the unacceptable
range for total coliforms. As shown in Tables 1 and 2 supermarkets
had the highest percentage of samples within
acceptable food safety ranges while average counts of samples
from the rest of the retail outlets were within marginal
or unacceptable counts of above 2.000 Log10cfu/ml.
There was a statistical significant difference in the E. coli
count (F (4,175) =16.676; MSE = 106.576; p < 0.001)
and coliform counts (F (4,179) =18.37; MSE = 105.097;
p < 0.001) among the outlets with supermarkets having
the lowest E. coli and coliform count compared to the
rest. Graphical evidence of the differences of E. coli
and coliform counts observed in the different retail
outlet classifications are also shown in Figures 1 and 2.