Cross-contamination of animal carcasses and their contact surfaces at any stage of meat handling is one major aspect in
production of meat of high keeping quality. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the hygienic status of the
animal carcasses (cattle, buffaloes, camel and sheep) and their contact surfaces (cutting boards, walls, knives, and butcher
hands) in butchery shops among urban and rural areas in Sharkia province, Egypt. Microbial indicators for the hygienic
measures adopted at butchery shops including total bacterial counts (TBC), total Enterobacteriacae counts (TEC), most
probable number (MPN) of coliforms, total Staphylococcus aureus counts (TSC), total mould counts (TMC) and total
yeast counts (TYC) were investigated. The results achieved in this study declared that cross-contamination of animal
carcasses and their contact surfaces is well-observed and should be considered as an important factor that should be
included in the microbiological risk assessments. Therefore, we recommend adoption of strict hygienic measures in all
handling steps of animal carcasses