[Microbiological studies of spiced beef burgers in Tripoli city, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya]

We investigated the microbiological quality of uncooked and cooked spiced beef burger in restaurants and fast food places in Tripoli city and surrounding areas. Thus 151 samples [92 cooked and 59 uncooked] were analysed microbiologically. The results showed that all samples were highly contaminated with bacteria; 74.5%, 28.8%, 27.1% and 18.6% of the uncooked samples were contaminated with Escherichia coli, Aeromonas spp., Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli O157:H7 respectively. Additionally 11.9%, 9.9%, 5.4% and 3.2% of the cooked samples were contaminated with E. coli, Aeromonas spp., E. coli O157:H7 and S. aureus respectively