Determination of halal status and microbiological verification of ready to eat burgers sold at street market

Abstract

Nowadays, street food especially ready to eat (RTE) burgers are very popular in Malaysia. However, it is very hard to find halal certificate shown at burger stalls thus the halal status of RTE burgers sold at street markets is questionable. This research aimed to determine the halal status of street burger stalls around Shah Alam and Kuantan towns and verified the microbiological quality of the burger as halalan - toyyiban indicator. Respondents of this study comprised of 47 RTE burger entrepreneurs in Kuantan and 80 RTE burger entrepreneurs in Shah Alam. The halal status was identified through survey and observation using a specific questionnaire. For microbiology verification, about 68 samples were convenient randomly purchased from RTE burger stalls in Kuantan and the samples were examined for Total Plate Count (TPC), Coliform, Faecal coliform, E. coli and S. aureus. About 14 samples of RTE burgers from one burger stall at Kuantan town were also purchased at one time to evaluate their microbiological growth. The samples were divided into seven groups which are then left at ambient temperature for seven interval holding hours before the analysis. About 30-100% of RTE burgers sold at street markets contain raw ingredients that are from animal or mix-animal sources and about five to 15% of the raw materials have no halal logo or certificate. The observation during the survey also found that there is still no indicator of halal packaging used for RTE burgers sold at street markets. The results show that RTE halal street burger samples had low to high risks where TPC was less than 3.3x103 cfu/g (low risk), mean Coliform count were 1.96x102 MPN/g (high risk) and mean F. coliform count was 5.6x102 MPN/g (high risk). Pathogenic E. coli were not detected (low risk) and S. aureus counts less than 3.3 x 103 cfu/g (medium risk). Microbial growth study showed that RTE street burger is still safe to consume even though after left at ambient temperature up to 24 hours. The overall study shows that RTE burgers sold at street markets have syubhah ingredients especially from raw materials and have some microbiological risks even though they can be consumed up to 24 hours. Thus, the implementation of halal certification on street burger stalls is vital to ensure the halalan – toyyibah aspect of street RTE burgers.