BACTERIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF READY-TO-EAT FOODS SOLD IN MOTOR PARKS

ABSTRACT

Ready-to-eat (RTE) food refers to food that is ready for immediate consumption when purchased, whether it is in its raw or cooked state, and does not require any additional preparation. These items are typically vended by street hawkers and sellers, often in various public spaces. RTE foods often harbor high level of microbial contamination due to a number of factors and this poses a significant public health risk. This study was aimed at evaluating the bacteriological quality of ready-to-eat foods sold in Motor Parks in Benin City, Edo state. Samples of the ready-to-eat food which included meatpie, akara, fried yam, fried potato and puff were obtained from three different Motor Parks namely: Bob Izua Motor Park in Ring Road, Muyi Line Motor Park in Uselu and Lawani Motor Park in New Benin. All samples were serially diluted with sterile distilled water. Bacterial enumeration and isolation was carried out using the pour plate method. Cultural, morphological and biochemical characterization were employed to identify the bacterial isolates. The pH of the isolates were determined using H19 pHep portable pH meter by Hanna instruments. Antibiotics susceptibility pattern of the bacteria was determined using disc diffusion assay. The total heterotrophic bacterial count of RTE food samples ranged from 1.60x104 cfu/g (puff) to 32.00x104 cfu/g (meat pie). Bacteria isolated from samples include: Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Streptococcus spp., Micrococcus spp., Bacillus spp. and Serratia marcescens. Serratia marcescens had the lowest occurrence of 10.26% while Micrococcus spp. had the highest occurrence of 25.65%. The pH of the samples ranged from 5.10 (puff) to 6.60 (fried potato). All isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, rocephin and erythromycin and all isolates were resistant to amoxicillin, septrin and pefloxacin. The presence of these bacterial isolates in RTE foods demonstrates improper sanitary practices during the preparation and serving. These findings imply that consuming RTE food may result in foodborne infection, foodborne intoxication, and other gastro-intestinal problems. The presence of these pathogens in the RTE food samples highlighted the importance of implementing quality control procedures in the preparation and servicing of RTE foods, thereby lowering the risks to the public's health.