ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIA FROM THE SURFACES OF CANNED DRINKS SOLD IN OVIA NORTH EAST AND ENVIRONS

ABSTRACT

The qualitative assessment of putative bacterial pathogens on the surfaces of canned drinks sold in Benin Ovia North East and Environs, was evaluated in this study. Standard bacteriological culture-based techniques employing the use nutrient and differential media such as Nutrient agar and MacConkey agar were used for isolation and identification of bacteria from swabbed surfaces of canned drinks. Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique was used for antibacterial susceptibility testing. The multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index was deduced from the antibiogram characterization to evaluate the public health importance of the bacterial isolates. Samples from retailers had 75.7% contamination, from both refrigerated and unrefrigerated samples while 24.3% were not contaminated. About 26.6% contamination was observed from distributors. The bacterial species include Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Micrococcus species. The bacteria were most sensitive to ciprofloxacin (93.5%) and gentamicin (79.2%) and least susceptible to Amoxycillin (53.7%) They were found to be multi-resistant because they have an MAR index above the tolerable permissible limit (0.2) for common antibiotics usually used for their eradication. It is important to ensure that the surfaces of canned drinks must be rinsed with water before consumption.