Microbiological Evaluation of Meals Served To Students in the University City Restaurant of Benha University

Food made at the university can be a vehicle for foodborne diseases and food poisoning if it is not handled properly. In this study, the microbiological quality of foods (bread, cooked chicken, cooked meat, cooked rice, cooked macaroni, cooked vegetable, cooked legumes, feta cheese, boiled eggs, processed cheese, and jam) was assessed at the Benha University campus. A total of three random samples of breakfast, lunch and dinner samples were collected from the campus student’s restaurant after cooking. The result obtained revealed that the mean bacterial count from the breakfast meal sample was 6.9×10 3 cfu/g on bread and 3×10 cfu/g on biscuits, while lunch meal total bacterial count ranged between 2.9×10 2 and 8.5×10 4 cfu/g. On the other hand dinner meal, the total bacterial count ranged between 3.5×10 2 and 8.1×10 4 cfu/g. Pathogenic bacteria in breakfast, lunch and dinner meals were not detected for coliform group and Salmonella sp. counts. While Staph. aureus was a little count for breakfast lunch and dinner meals. This means that food items in this study were carried out under sanitary conditions with very good food hygiene. This study recommended that food handlers should ensure strict personal hygiene and that of the environment, and the general sanitary condition of the university hostel restaurant should be improved.