Hygienic quality of chicken grills sold along the streets of Korhogo town (North of Côte d’Ivoire)

This study was carried out to better appreciate the sanitary situation of chicken grills sold near the streets of Korhogo town. First, a survey was conducted in sixty sale places of grill to describe the methods of preparation and storage of chicken grills. Then, the environment, equipment, raw material, method and workforce were observed in order to assess the hygiene of the preparation of these foods. After that, the microbiological quality of chicken grills was evaluated by looking for total aerobic mesophilic flora, faecal coliforms, S. aureus and Salmonella spp. Finally, the benzo[a]pyrene content in chicken grills was estimated through a cooking test. The survey revealed that the majority of sellers of chicken grills cooked the meat over an ember fire and stored the unsold grills cold in refrigerator or cooler. In most of the places of sale, the sellers did not comply with the principle of separating “clean” areas from “dirty” areas. Microbiological analysis showed that the overall quality of the chicken grills was unsatisfactory in most cases. The main microorganism responsible for the unsatisfactory quality of chicken grills was the total aerobic mesophilic flora (54.18 %). Moreover, the cooking test indicated that chicken meats cooked over an ember fire had a benzo[a]pyrene content above the maximum recommended limit (2 µg/kg). These results suggest that the chicken grills sold along the streets of Korhogo town are likely to represent a risk to consumer health. Therefore, sellers of chicken grills should be raised awareness and trained on good hygiene practices.