ABSTRACT

The present study was undertaken to investigate the microbiological quality of street foods like meat pie and eggroll sold in Umuahia in Abia State. The samples were aseptically collected and randomly from street vendors and analysed by standard bacteriological procedures to determine the colony forming units per gram of meat pie and eggroll samples and the different bacteria. Total Viable counts indicated that all the samples that were studied showed contamination of bacteria ranging from 2.5 x 10⁴ to 2.8 x 10⁵ cfu/g. The meat pie samples showed contamination of bacteria ranging from 2.5 x 10⁴ to 1.9 x 10⁵ cfu/g while the Eggroll samples showed contamination of bacteria ranging from 4.2 x 10⁴ to 2.8 x 10⁵ cfu/g. The bacteria of public health importance isolated were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Shigella sp., and Salmonella sp. There was prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in both the Eggroll and the Meat pie samples with 30.7% and 30.9% occurrence respectively. Thus, all the locally made meat pie and eggroll samples were contaminated, indicating lack of maintenance of standards in relation to personal hygiene and food handling processes. It is suggested that proper hygienic and sanitary conditions has to be maintained. A continuous monitoring in each activity from pre-preparation to the point of sale is required in street food centres to avoid any food borne pathogenic outbreaks in future. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    i

CERTIFICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . … . . . . . . . .  iii

DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   iv

TABLE OF CONTENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  v

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  viii

ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ix

CHAPTER ONE                                               

1.1  INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1

1.2  PROBLEM STATEMENT AND JUSTIFICATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3

1.3  AIM AND OBJECTIVE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    4

CHAPTER TWO

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 5

2.2 SNACKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 5

2.3 QUALITY OF FLOOR MILL USED IN THE PREPARATION OF MEAT

PIE AND EGGROLL . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . .  . . .  5

2.4 MICROBIAL QUALITY OF SNACKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.5 FOOD SPOILAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . 7

2.6 FOOD BORNE INFECTION AND INTOXICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . 7

2.7 FOOD BORNE DISEASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.7.1 Staphylococcal food poisoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.7.2 Escherichia coli food poisoning . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.7.3 Shigella food poisoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.7.4 Salmonella food poisoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.7.5 Bacillus cereus food poisoning . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 11

2.8 RATE OF FOOD BORNE DISEASES ON STREET FOODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.9 FOOD HANDLING PRACTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.10 GENERAL MEASURES FOR PREVENION OF FOOD BORNE DISEASE . . . . . . 14

2.11 IMPORTANCE OF STREET FOODS IN URBAN AREAS . . . .  . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . 15

2.12 NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF READY TO EAT FOOD (MEAT PIE AND EGGROLL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         15

2.13 ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF READY TO EAT FOODS SOLD IN STREETS . . .    16

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.1 STUDY AREA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.2 SAMPLE COLLECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.3 MEDIA PREPARATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.4 SAMPLES PREPARATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17

3.5 ENUMERATION OF MICROBIAL POPULATION. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . .18

3.5.1 Total viable count . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.5.2 Enumeration of E. coli . . .. . . . . .. . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .  . . . . .  18

3.5.3 Enumeration of Staphylococci . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   18

3.5.4 Enumeration of Salmonella and Shigella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18

3.6 ISOLATION OF MICROBES . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.7 IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIA ISOLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .            19

3.8 MORPHOLOGICAL AND COLONY IDENTIFICATION  . . . .. . .  . . . . . . . . .  .. . . . 19

3.8.1 Gram staining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.8.2 Motility Test . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19

3.9 BIOCHEMICAL TESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   20

3.9.1 Catalase Test  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3.9.2 Coagulase Test . . . . . . . . .  .. . . . . .. . . . . . . .  . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3.9.3 Indole Test . . . .  . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . …. . . . . . . . . . . . 20

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULTS . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .  . . . . . . . . .. . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   21

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

5.1 SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 28

5.2 RECOMMENDATION .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

REFERENCE

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Morphology and Biochemical Identification of Bacterial Isolates . . . . . .. . . . . . . 22

Table 2: Frequency of Organisms Isolated from Meat Pie samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Table 3: Frequency of Organisms Isolated from Eggroll samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .            24

Table 4: Total Viable Count (cfu/g) of Meat Pie samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Table 5: Total Viable Count (cfu/g) of Eggroll samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26