Enteropathogenic Bacterial Contamination of Some Ready to Eat Foods Sold in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria

Zumbes; J. H.; Dabo; A.D.; Dakul; D.A; Afolabi; S.A.; Dapiya; H.S

Volume : III, Issue : VII, July - 2014

Enteropathogenic Bacterial Contamination of Some Ready to Eat Foods Sold in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria

Zumbes, J. H. , Dabo, A. D. , Dakul, D. A, Afolabi, S. A. , Dapiya, H. S

Abstract :

This study assessed the occurrence of enteropathogenic bacteria in six types of ready–to–eat (RTE) foods sold in Jos Metropolis. A total of 50 samples of “Awara”, “Kunum zaki”, “Masa”, fried groundnut and “Zobo” drink were collected from the street food vendors. Enumeration and Identification of enteropathogenic bacteria was conventionally carried out using standard bacteriological procedures. The result shows varying level (p < 0.05) of bacterial contamination with total aerobic plate count ranging from 5.16 x104 to 1.17 x 105CFU/unit of food. Comparatively, highest mean count of 5.16x 105 CFU/g was observed in “Awara”, while “Zobo drink” had the least microbial load of 6.69 x 104 CFU/g. Predominant bacterial contaminants of the food samples were; Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysentariae and E. coli. Comparatively, E. coli (40%) was the most occurred, followed by Shigella dysentariae 16(32%) and Salmonella typhi 13(26%). Out of the 49 bacterial isolates, 28.57% of them were from “Awara”, followed by “Masa”, and the least from “Zobo” drink (6.12%). This study showed that food were bacteriologically unfit and could serve as a source of diseases outeak. Therefore, vending of ready to eat food necessitates proper education of food handlers on good personal hygiene, manufacturing and post–handling practices.