ABSTRACT
Salmonella species were isolated from ready to eat foods and their antibiotic profile was studied. Meat pie, egg roll, chicken pie and suya were collected from three different places within the MOUAU community and Umuahia town. The study covered an assessment of the bacteria load, Salmonella occurrance and their antibiogram. The result Obtained showed that the bacteria load was in the range of 1.8 x 106 to 1.0 x 107 cfu/g of the foods while Salmonella specie were observed in the food items. Salmonella sp occurred in 33.3% in egg roll, 44.4% in meat pie, 55.6% in suya and 33.3% in chicken pie. There were variations in the occurrances of Salmonella isolates in the different ready to eat foods. Antibiogram of the isolate showed first the Salmonella isolates were sensitive to the three test drugs Gentamycin, Erythromycin, Oflaxacin with inhibition zones ranging from 15ml to 27mm. The sensitivity of the Salmonella isolates from the different foods was found to vary. It was concluded that the bacteria load of the foods was high and the Salmonella presence was undesirable and has potential of food borne disease. Proper personal and environmental hygiene on the part of all the food handlers was recommended.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of contents v
List of tables vii
Abstract viii
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction 1
1.1 Background of the study 1
1.2 Statement of the problem 4
1.3 Objectives
of the study 6
CHAPTER TWO
Literature Review 7
2.1 Global overview of Salmonellosis 7
2.2 Hygienic and socio-economic assessment of
street food 8
2.3 Isolation of bacteria from street food 9
2.4 Isolation of Salmonella 12
2.5 Identification of bacteria from street
food 15
2.6 Antibiogram of bacteria isolated from food
samples 16
2.7 Antimicrobial resistance 18
2.8 Safety and public health significance of
street food 19
CHAPTER THREE
Materials and
methods 22
3.1 Sources of materials 22
3.2 Sample and media preparations 22
3.3 Determination of bacteria load 23
3.4 Isolation of Salmonella 24.
3.5 Characterization of Salmonella isolates 24
3.6 Identification of microbial isolates 25
3.7 Antibiogram
of Salmonella isolates 25
CHAPTER FOUR
Results 27
CHAPTER FIVE
Discussion,
conclusion and recommendation 33
5.1 Discussion 33
5.2 Conclusion 34
5.3 Recommendation 34
References 35
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Bacteria load of ready-to-eat foods 28
Table 2: Percentage (%) of Salmonella
isolate in different ready to eat
food sold within Umuahia 30
Table 3: Diameter of inhibition of Salmonella isolates 32
Table 4: Characteristics of Salmonella isolates for ready to
eat
foods sold in Umuahia 34
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
of the study
Ready to eat (RTE)
foods can be described as food that was meant for immediate consumption at the
point of sale. It could be raw or cooked, hot or chilled and can be consumed
without further heat treatment (Abraham et
al., 2000). Different terms have been used to describe such ready- to- eat
foods: These include convenient, ready, instant and fast foods. Examples of
such ready to eat foods include pastries, meat pie, sausage, rolls, burger,
moin-moin, salad or coleslaw, fried meat, fried chicken, milk and milk products
(Akinbode et al., 2011). WHO, (2002)
reported that food borne illnesses of microbial origin are a major health
problem associated with street- foods as well as fast food centers and this is
as a result of the traditional processing methods that are used in preparation,
inappropriate holding temperatures and poor personal hygiene of food handlers
which are some of the main causes of contamination of street-vended food.
Consumers who depend on such foods are more interested in its convenience and usually
pay little attention to its safety, quality, and hygiene (Mensah et al., 2002, Muinde and Kuria, 2005: Barbara
et al., 2000). Street foods are
frequently associated with diarrhoea diseases which occur due to improper use
of additives, the presence of pathogenic bacteria, environmental contaminants
and disregard of good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and good hygiene practices
(GHPs). Barbara, Bair-Parker and Grahame (2000) reported that vendors are often
poorly educated, unlicensed, untrained in food hygiene and they work under
crude unsanitary conditions with little or no knowledge about the causes of
food borne disease. According to Fisseha et
al. (2006), food borne diseases are diseases resulting from ingestion of
bacteria, toxins and cells produced by microorganisms present in food. Data on
issues of food borne diseases are well documented worldwide (Gundogan et al., 2006). Food borne illnesses is
a major international health problem with consequent economic reduction (Dominguez
et al., 2002). Ekperigin and Nagaraja
(2000) recorded that outbreaks of food borne diseases are caused by those that
are contaminated intrinsically or that become contaminated during harvesting,
processing or preparation. In most countries, the most common food–borne
illness is Staphylococcus food
intoxication (Abdalla et al., 2009).
Enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus
strains and E. coli strains have been isolated from foods implicated in
illnesses (Adesiyun et al., 2001, Ateba
et al., 2010).
Food is of
paramount importance to the sustenance of human health. However, the
preparations of food usually result into their inadvertent contamination (Headrick
et al., 2001). In developing
countries wide variety of foods, which include vegetables, confectionary meat
and meat products and poultry are usually prepared by food vendors. Street-
vended foods provide a source of inexpensive, convenient and often nutritious
food for urban and rural poor; a major source of income for a vast number of
persons, particularly women; and a chance for self-employment and the
opportunity to develop business skills with low capital investment (WHO, 2004).
In Nigeria, vended food is intimately connected with take-out, junk food,
snacks, and fast food; it is distinguished by its local flavour and by being
purchased on the street, with or without entering any building. Both take-out
and fast food are often sold from counters inside buildings (Chukwuemeka et al., 2011). In spite of numerous
advantages offered by street foods, there are also several health hazards
associated with this sector of the economy The problems associated with the
methods of consumption of vended foods considerably arise from traditional
processing and packaging, improper handling temperature, poor personal hygiene
of food handlers. Contamination of vended food may occur during and after
processing of such food. Contamination of ready-to-eat food by organisms such
as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Proteus spp., Salmonella spp., Pseudomonas
spp. and Enterobacter spp. from
vended foods (Kaneko et al., 1999) is
of primary concern because of the risk of these organisms in the outbreak of
food-borne diseases such as gastroenteritis, dysentery, typhoid fever etc. and
may as well serve as reservoir of genes for antimicrobial resistance in
pathogenic organisms (Kaneko et al.,
1999). Recently, there has been increasing patronage of vended foods in Lagos
by citizenry due to its easy access, cheapness and affordability. This has led
to unprecedented upsurge food vendors seen on the streets of Lagos particularly
by the road sides coupled with noticeable increase in cases of diarrhea associated
illnesses and concomitant treatment failure. It was in line with this that the
present study was initiated with a view to determining bacterial agents
associated with the vended foods and to investigating antibacterial resistance
of the isolates.
Salmonella are well-known pathogens, highly adaptive and capable of causing
disease in humans and/or animals. Salmonella
infections are capable of producing serious infections that are often food
borne and present as gastroenteritis. However, a small percentage of these
infections may become invasive and result in bacteremia and extra intestinal
disease (Fluit, 2005). The main reservoirs for non-typhoidal Salmonella are animals such as poultry,
livestock, pets and reptiles. Salmonella
enterica serovar Typhi and Salmonella
enterica serovar Paratyphi colonize only humans and are often acquired
through feacally contained food or water, a person who has typhoid fever, or
from chronic carriers (CIDRAP, 2006).
While some serovars of Salmonella
enterica such as Salmonella enterica
serovar Typhi, Salmonella. enterica
serovar Paratyphi, Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis and Salmonella
enterica serovar Derby cause disease in humans and a variety of animals,
other serovars are highly restricted to a specific host such as Salmonella enterica serovar Gallinarum
in poultry and Salmonella enterica serovar Abortus-ovis in sheep. Salmonella infections range from
gastrointestinal infections that are accompanied by inflammation of intestinal
epithelia, diarrhoea and vomiting, to typhoid fever, a life threatening
infection (Hensel, 2004). The outcome of Salmonella
infections is determined by the host and the status of the bacterium. Whereas,
age, genetic and environmental factors mainly determine the status of the host,
for the bacterium it is determined by virulence factors (Alphons et al., 2005).
Serotypes adapted to man, such as Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi, usually cause severe
diseases in humans as a septicaemic typhoidic syndrome (enteric fever). These
serotypes are not usually pathogenic to animals. Serotypes that are highly
adapted to animal hosts, such as Salmonella
enterica serovar Gallinarum (poultry) or Salmonella enterica serovar Abortus-ovis (sheep) usually produce
very mild symptoms in man (Fluit, 2005).
Salmonellosis is one of the most emerging and re-emerging
infectious diseases in the world (WHO, 2004). The high prevalence of Salmonellosis
is attributed to lack of adequate water supply, poor sewage effluent disposal
coupled with contaminated foods (Jones, 2005). About 1,195 outbreaks of Salmonellosis
were reported in Brazil in 2007, with 22.6 % of them provoked by the
consumption of foods with raw eggs (Wray and Davies, 2001).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The emergence of
migratory ready-to-eat food vendors call for concern because, while the
stationary and ambulatory vendors can exercise some food safety caution in
order to produce safe product for their clients, and for fear that a bad
product can lead to low patronage by consumers or outright confrontation by
customers because the vendor is known by their fixed station/location/routes.
The migratory vendors have no fixed station/location/route. They move to
different routes and locations on highways via commercial motorcycles/vehicles,
and their movement is dependent on newly identified failed portions on the
highways, repair/construction works on the highways, security posts (check
points) accident spots on the highways and possibly they move to different
locations/routes to deliberately sale bad products. Ready-to-eat foods have
been reported to be easily available, affordable, provide diverse/variable food
source, employment and with a potential for improving food security and
nutritional status and general social security it is however, a veritable
source of food borne pathogen (Mensah et
al., 2002).
Salmonellosis is
an important global health problem which causes substantial morbidity and thus
it has a significant economic impact. In spite of the improvement in hygiene,
food processing, education of food handlers and information to the consumers,
food borne diseases are still prevalent and most important health problem in
most countries (Dominguez et al., 2002).
Many foods, particularly those of animal origin, have been identified as
vehicles of transmission of these pathogens to human beings and spreading them
to the processing and kitchen environment (Uyttendaele et al., 2002).
The intensity of
the signs and symptoms may vary with the amount of contaminated food ingested
and susceptibility of the individuals to the toxin. Escherichia coli is
commonly used as surrogate indicator, its presence in food generally indicate
direct and indirect fecal contamination. It has been reported that in many
countries of the world, there were lots of people who have suffered or even
died from food poisoning arising from food spoilage especially young children
(WHO, 2004). The need by the vendors to focus more on food hygiene as well as
the regulatory agencies to ensure compliance with approved standard underscored
the execution of this project work.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The
purpose of this study is focused on assessing the bacteriological quality of
some ready to eat foods sold in Umuahia, Abia state.
The
aim and objectives of this study:
i.
To investigate the isolation and characterization of
bacteria.
ii.
To determine the occurrence of Salmonella sp in food samples.
iii.
To ascertain the total counts in food samples.
iv.
To bring to lime light the Antibiotic profile of Salmonella sp.
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