الفهرس 
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Abstract
Catering, which refers to the service of food and beverages to customers, is a profession that deals with food, drink, and has a deep relationship with the hotel and tourism industries, where a person or establishment provides food and drinks to customers.
Catering is an area of study that specializes in food and beverage production services. It involves serving food and drinks for customers so that the customers are served to their satisfaction and yet ensuring that the establishment’s profit is maximized through the use of a good cost and control system.
Meat is one of the ideal and most desirable foods which supply the human body by almost nutritive substances required for its development and other life activities.
Therefore, the current study was conducted to determine the aerobic plate count, S. aureus count, and most probable numbers (MPN) of coliforms, fecal coliforms, and E. coli and detect pathogenic E. coli, S.aureus, and L. monocytogenesin beef steak at various stages of preparation (before cutting, after cutting, and after cooking), as well as in minced meat at various stages of preparation (before cutting, after cutting, and after cooking) in a randomly selected foodservice establishment in Beni-Suef City, Egypt. Additionally, swab samples from knives, cutting boards, and the operator’s hands were investigated for the same bacteriological criteria. Subsequently, S.aureus and pathogenic E. coli isolates were subjected to molecular identification by investigating the presence of virulence genes (eaeA and stx1) in the case of E. coli, and coagulation gene (coa) and methicillin-resistance gene (mecA) in the case of S. Aureus.
The samples were taken from food serving establishment in Beni-Suef City, total of 180 random samples (250 g) of beef steak and minced meat (raw before preparation, after preparation and after cooking) also swabs were taken from knife, cutting board and hands (20 of each). Then samples were then separated intoclean sterile plastic bags, identified and transferred in an insulated ice box to the laboratory of food hygiene department, faculty of veterinary medicine, Beni-Suef University under complete aseptic conditions without delay. Bacteriological testing was performed on all collected samples.
Using the samples to determine the aerobic plate count, and most probable numbers (MPN) of coliforms, fecal coliforms, and E. coli and detect pathogenic E. coli, S.aureus, and L. monocytogenes in beef steak and minced beef at various stages of preparation (before cutting, after cutting, and after cooking) and swab samples from knives, cutting boards, and the operator’s hands were investigated for the same bacteriological criteria.
The aerobic plate count was found in all samples, in the most probable number of coliforms and fecal coliforms were found in samples, while E.coli was found only in the hand, S. aureus was found in most of the samples, while no samples appeared for L. monocytogenes, it was found that swabs samples were from knives and cutting board and the operator’s hands were contaminated with bacteria.
13, 7, 1 out of 20 swab samples from hands contained coliforms, fecal coliforms, and E. coli, respectively, while knives and cutting boards were free from fecal coliforms and E. coli. Furthermore, contamination with S.aureus was reported in 100 % of knives and hand swab samples and 50 % of cutting board swab samples.
E.coli was isolated once as the presence of Stx1 and eaeA genes was detected at 614 at 248 bp, respectively. The presence of eaeA was found in the isolated sample and the absence of the Stx1 gene while S.aureus was isolated six times, three times in workers hand where mecA and coa target genes are present and three more times in beef steak after cooking where mecA target genes are present in two isolated pathogens and coais present in all isolated pathogens. coa and mecA genes were detected at 310 and 570 bp,
The results obtained from the present study lead to the following conclusions:
The handling of beef steak and minced meat during meat preparation and mincing in a food serving establishment could be an important source of contamination of the end ready-to-eat product.
Additionally, the cooking step might not be applied thoroughly, which can leave a high level of bacterial load in the finished product.
This risk is maximized if there is contamination with foodborne pathogens such as E. coli and S. aureus.
Another important risk that was noticeable, is the improper cleaning and sanitizing and poor personal hygiene, as we found that swab samples from knives, cutting boards, and operator’s hands were contaminated with bacteria including coliforms, fecal coliforms, E. coli, and S. aureus.
In conclusion, this foodservice establishment applies poor food safety measures, practices inadequate cleaning and sanitizing, and food handlers and workers behave poor personal hygiene, accordingly. These practices must be met with a high level of concern and consideration by legal authorities.