ABSTRACT
The study was aimed at evaluating the bacteria of Public health importance in Okpa. Twenty five samples were collected from five different locations and analysed for total aerobic count. The organisms isolated were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Shigella species using standard bacteriological methods. The mean aerobic bacterial count from the different locations ranged from 2.72 x 104cfu/ml to 1.91 x 105cfu/ml. The predominant bacteria was Staphylococcus aureus showing occurrence in all the samples collected from the different locations with prevalence ranging from 60-100%, which was closely followed by Escherichia coli with prevalence also ranging from 60-100%, Shigella had an occurrence ranging from 20-80% and Salmonella ranged from 0-60% in occurrence. These findings suggest that Okpa may constitute a source of food poisoning, consequently public health hazards. The need for improvement and maintenance of good hygienic practices by food handlers and vendors in the market could serve as a means for reduction in the level of contamination by these isolated organisms.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title
page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Table
of contents v
List
of tables viii
Abstract ix
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
Introduction 1
1.1
Aim and Objectives 3
CHAPTER TWO
2.0
Literature Review 5
2.1
Bambara groundnut 5
2.1.1
Nutritional composition of bambara groundnut 6
2.1.2
Anti-Nutritional components of bambara groundnut 8
2.1.3
Processing and Utilization of bambara groundnut 9
2.2
Food borne infection and intoxication 11
2.3
Food borne diseases 12
2.4
Bacteria of public health importance 12
2.4.1
Staphylococcus aureus 12
2.4.2
Escherichia coli 13
2.4.3
Salmonella 13
2.4.4
Shigella 15
2.5
Prevention and control of food borne diseases 15
2.6
Food Security 16
2.7
Consumers of ready to eat foods 17
2.8
Microbiological Safety 17
CHAPTER THREE
3.0
Materials and Method 19
3.1
Sample Collection 19
3.2
Sample Preparation 19
3.2.1
Sterilization of Materials 19
3.2.2
Media Preparation 19
3.3
Viable count 20
3.4
Identification of isolates 20
3.5
Gram Staining 20
3.6
Motility test 21
3.7
Biochemical test 21
3.7.1
Catalase test 21
3.7.2
Coagulase test 21
3.7.3
Oxidase test 22
3.7.4
Indole test 22
3.7.5
Citrate utilization test 22
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0
Result 23
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0
Discussion and Conclusion 27
5.1
Discussion 27
5.2
Conclusion 28
LIST OF TABLES
Table
1: Mineral content in raw Bambara nut and its fermented flour.
Table
2: Fatty acid composition of Bambara groundnut oil.
Table
3: Anti-nutritional factors in raw Bambara groundnut and its fermented flour.
Table
4.1: The mean aerobic bacterial count of the Okpa samples.
Table
4.2: Characterization and identification of bacterial isolates.
Table
4.3: Percentage (%) Occurrence of the bacterial isolates.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
INTRODUCTION
Several
types of microorganisms have been known to affect the quality of food, thereby
constituting health hazards when food contaminated with these organisms are
consumed. High viable counts often indicate contamination which may be due to
contaminated raw materials. It may also be as a result of inappropriate time
and exposure during production and/or processing of foods or storage of the
food products or the combination of these. Bacteria produce toxic substances
while growing in certain foods and bring about food intoxication when consumed.
Food infections result from life ingestion of pathogenic organisms especially
species of the genus Salmonella which
invariably multiply once consumed producing the disease.
The
food eaten by man has a direct influence on health. It is therefore an
important task for food inspectors, food manufacturers and food handlers to
keep food safe from pathogenic microorganisms, especially when such foods are
to be consumed without further processing that is ready to eat foods such as Okpa
(Frazier and Westhoff, 2004).
Okpa
is a popularly known Igbo food which is gaining wide acceptance by people of
different ethnic groups and socio-economic classes in our society but has a very
short shelf life. Owing to the short shelf life of Okpa, it is produced only in
a very small scale and therefore underutilized. It has a shelf life of 24-40
hours after which microbial deterioration sets in.
Food either raw or cooked, hot or chilled
that are ready for immediate consumption at the point of sale without further
treatment are generally described as ready-to-eat (Tsang, 2002). The FAO defined street food as ready to eat
foods and beverages prepared and/or sold by vendors and hawkers especially in
streets and other similar public places.
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 (Abdussalam and Kaferstein, 1993; Mensah et al., 2002).
A general observation of our society shows
a social pattern characterized by increased mobility due to urbanization, large
number of itinerant workers and less family or home centered activities
resulting in large percentage of the population depending on ready-to-eat foods
for employment and food. This situation
however, has resulted that food sanitary measures and proper food handling have
been transferred from individual, families to the food vendors who rarely
enforce such practices. There is a general perception that ready to eat vended
foods are unsafe, mainly because of the environment under which they are
prepared and consumed which exposes the food to numerous potential contaminations.
Ready to eat food vendors usually take their food to their customers and
therefore operate from such places as bus terminal, market place, industrial
sites and other street corners where ready and numerous clients are found.
Unfortunately, these locations usually do not meet all food safety
requirements. For example, large amounts of garbage accumulate and provide
harbourage for insects and other animal pests. The utensils used are also of a
nature that may lead to contamination, especially through of leaching of toxic
heavy metals or simply due to unsanitary exposure to environment (Nago et al., 2005).
In contrast, concerns over the safety and
quality of ready to eat foods have been raised because the vendors lack
appropriate basic food safety issues. They often use stands and carts of crude
and inefficient construction, running water is not easily accessible, hand and
dish washing is done in the same bucket, sometimes without soap. In many cases
toilets are not available, thus forcing the vendors to eliminate their body
wastes in nearby areas and return to their vending sites without washing their
hands. Such conditions and practices are likely to lead to cross-contamination
of cooked foods (Mensah et al, 2002).
Microorganisms pose significant
contamination risk in food for human consumption and are the chief agent
responsible for spoilage of food. The microorganism responsible for food
spoilage may be classified into different groups such as the mold, yeast and
bacteria. The way in which okpa (Vigna
subterranean) which is a ready to eat
food is exposed and handled during sales led to the examination of
microbiological quality of okpa to evaluate its suitability for consumption.
For
the purpose of this study, we shall be based on bacteria only.
1.1 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The
aim of this study is to identify the bacteria of public health importance
present in okpa.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
·
Enumeration of bacteria
in Okpa.
·
Identification of the
isolates.
·
Isolation of the bacteria
of public health.
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