The presence and consumption of food contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms for humans has a high incidence in developing countries, where the treatment of these diseases has as a consequence an important impact for the public health system. The objective of this project was to investigate the presence of Salmonella and Escherichia coli in 40 samples from the hands of the employees working with cattle, pigs and from their gloves in a slaughterhouse in a municipality in Cundinamarca, Colombia, by means of microbiological culture and biochemical tests. The methodology was an investigation survey on aspects such as the knowledge and application of sanitary and hygiene norms and good practices of manufacture, planting of the samples in a broth, isolation of the negative Gram bacilli in agar Mac Conkey, XLD and agar Endo, microscopic verification with coloration of Gram to the 24 hours, and identification with biochemical tests. The results allowed us to confirm the presence of a significant variety of implied bacteriological contaminating agents in meat like E. coli, and the absence of Salmonella spp. From the study, it was recommended to optimize the application of the hygiene and bio safety norms with the purpose of offering healthful products for human consumption.
