Microbial Contamination of Fresh Vegetable Salads from Food Vendors in Oyo Metropolis
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Date
2019
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Faculty of Physical Sciences and Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
Abstract
Vegetables provide humans with essential vitamins and minerals with enough ability to help reduce the risk of diseases and infections. However, a major issue associated with the consumption of fresh vegetable salad is their contamination with pathogenic microorganisms. Thus, this study was aimed at assessing the microbial contamination levels and evaluating the microbiological risk associated with the consumption of ready to eat mixed vegetable salads from food vendors in Oyo, Oyo state. Microbiological analysis was done using standard methods. Results showed that from 20 samples, a total of fifty-five (55) isolates were gotten, while 91% of the isolates were bacteria, 9% were fungi. The total bacteria count obtained in this study ranged from 6.00×105 to 7.30×105 cfu/ml. The bacterial isolates identified from the samples were: Aeromonas sp. (50%); Serratia sp. (20%); Pseudomonas sp. (21%); Escherichia coli (3%); Lactobacillus sp. (3%); and Staphylococcus sp. (3%). The fungal count realized in this study ranged from 1.67 × 104 cfu/ml to 2.90 × 104 cfu/ml. The fungal isolates were: Aspergillus sp.; and Rhizopus sp.; (78%) and (22%) respectively. The high microbial load found in the vegetable salad samples shows that there is an urgent need for food handlers to employ appropriate decontamination methods. Consumed food being sold by vendors must always meet up with stipulated microbiological standards for consumed food.
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Adeyemi O.A., Fejukui B.M., Adeyemi O.O. (2019). Microbial Contamination of Fresh Vegetable Salads from Food Vendors in Oyo Metropolis. Nig. J. Pure & Appl. Sci. 32 (1); 3374-3379