Table 3 Effects of species, diet, and feed deprivation time (FDT) on the microbial counts (log ₁₀ CFU/cm ² ) on skin and carcass of sheep and goats

Skin, pre-holding¹

  E. coli count

2.00

2.21

0.2129

2.06

2.16

0.5527

  Total coliform count

2.12^b

3.04^a

0.0011

2.43

2.73

0.2413

  Aerobic plate count

8.21^b

8.53^a

0.0305

8.42

8.31

0.4511

Skin, pre-slaughtering²

  E. coli count

2.23^b

2.93^a

0.0118

2.56

2.60

0.8650

2.38

2.78

0.1238

0.180

  Total coliform count

2.26^b

3.01^a

0.0135

2.60

2.67

0.8074

2.42

2.85

0.1352

0.197

  Aerobic plate count

8.31

8.30

0.8017

8.33

8.28

0.3198

8.34

8.28

0.2163

0.035

Carcass, pre-washing³

  E. coli count

2.28

2.51

0.2212

2.34

2.44

0.6018

2.28

2.41

0.8959

0.134

  Total coliform count

2.29

2.56

0.1999

2.35

2.50

0.4587

2.43

2.43

1.0000

0.141

  Aerobic plate count

7.93

8.28

0.0718

8.16

8.04

0.5076

8.35^a

7.85^b

0.0128

0.131