Prevalence of Bacteria Pathogen in Pre-packed Mixed Vegetable Salad Sold in Major Supermarts in Owo

Abstract

Vegetables promote good health but harbors a wide range of microbial contaminants. This research was done to assess the microbial quality of pre-packed mixed vegetables salad from three major supermarts in Owo using standard bacteriological methods. The bacteria loads as reflected by the total bacteria count ranged from 7.2 × 104 to 9.2 × 104cfu/g, the total coliform count ranged from 0.6 × 102 to 1.2 × 102cfu/g and the total yeast/mould count ranged from 0.12 × 102 to 0.41 × 102cfu/g. A total of ten genera of bacteria were isolated and identified as Staphylococcus sp., Proteus sp., Bacillus sp., Micrococcus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Enterobacteria sp., Serratia sp., Citrobacteria sp., Klebsiella sp., E. coli. This showed the E. coli, Staphylococcus sp., Micrococcus sp. were most dominant species while Enterobacter sp., Serratia sp., Proteus sp. and Citrobacter sp. were the least dominant in the analysed pre-packed mixed vegetable salad in the selected locations. Since the pre-packaged salad will not be subjected to heat treatment, it could be a source of food poisoning to consumers. However, regular inspections of food premises and education of food vendors have been recognized as one of the measures to ensure improvement in the quality of street foods. Thus, government should emphasize on educating vendors on simple preventive steps of keeping food hygienically safe.

Keywords: Bacteria, pathogen, salad, supermarts, vegetables
Cite this Article: Ibrahim, TA., Akinro EB, Adewale CA. Prevalence of Bacteria Pathogen in Pre-packed Mixed Vegetable Salad Sold in Major Supermarts in Owo. International Journal of Biochemistry and Biomolecules. 2019; 5(1) 10–19p.