Bacteriological Quality of Some Ready-to-Eat Foods Served in some Food Centres in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this research was to examine bacteriological quality of some ready-to-eat foods that were served in some food centres in Zaria. Samples of jollof rice, pounded yam and melon seed soup were collected from three categories of food service centres and enumerated on selective media for the isolation of Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Analysis of variance of the mean counts of the organisms from the three categories of food service centres were not significantly different (p > 0.05). However, mean counts ranging from 5.76 to 7.91 log10 cfu/g for B. cereus and 5.99 to 7.91 log10 cfu/g for S. aureus recovered from the foods were above the standard acceptable limits of less than 5.0 log10 cfu/g for B. cereus and less than 4.0 log10 cfu/g for S. aureus. Out of the 108 food and swab samples examined, 82 (75.9%) were contaminated with S. aureus, 68 (62.9%) with coliforms and 57 (52.7%) with B. cereus. E. coli was isolated from pounded yam and melon seed soup in bukateria and cafeteria. The antibiotic-sensitivity test of the bacteria revealed that most of the bacteria were resistant to the common antibiotics used in the treatment of infections.