ABSTRACT

Snacks are light foods that are usually hurriedly taken, they can also be called junk foods. The snack varieties used for this research work were buns and cakes and they were collected from two different locations. Some were collected from restaurants and others from kiosks. A total of 30 samples were used, 15 of each. The two samples were brought to the laboratory for the analyses of their microbiological quality. Total microbial numbers of the samples from the restaurant sites are (2.9 x 103 – 21.4 x 104) when compared with those from the local kiosks (3.0 x 103 – 22.6 x 104) after 24 hours of aerobic incubation at 370c. The predominant microorganism were the bacteria and fungi species; the pre dominant bacteria found identified were E.coli, Klebsiella aerogenes, Bacillus spp Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp, Shigella spp, Lactobacillus, Pseudomonas spp, Salmonella spp where as the predominant fungal organisms were Aspergillus spp, Penicillum spp and Fusarium spp. The isolation of these large numbers of microorganisms with grave public health implications demands that people, especially students of all grades, are very cautious in patronizing exposed and badly displayed snacks, attractively displayed ones in a visibly dirty environment or snacks sold by apparently unhygienic snack grocers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certification i

Dedication ii

Acknowledgement iii

Table of contents iv

List of tables vi

Abstract vii

Chapter one

Introduction

1.1 Background of Study 1

1.2 Aim and Objective 4

Chapter two

2.1 Literature Review 6

2.2 Unhealthy Snacks 8

2.3 Healthy Snacks 8

2.3.1 Healthy Snacking: Deterrents and Motivations 9

2.4 Nutritional Implications of Snacks 9

2.5 Preservation 13

2.6 Methods 13

2.7 Spoilage 14

2.7.1 Causes of Spoilage 15

Chapter Three

Materials and Methods 18

3.1 Source of Material 18

3.2 Sampling and Sampling Techniques 18

3.3 Media Preparation 18

3.4 Determination of Microbial Load 19

3.5 Determination of Microbial Flora and Prevalence of Microorganisms 20

3. 5.1 Characterization of Microbial Isolates 21

3.5.1.1 Characterization of Fungi Isolates 21

3.5.1.2 Characterization of Bacteria Isolates 22

3.5.2 Other Methods of Isolate Identification 25

3.5.3 Identification of Microbial Isolates 26

3.5.4 Determination of Prevalence of Isolates 27

Chapter Four

4.1 Results 28

Chapter Five

5.1 Discussion 37

5.2 Conclusion 41

References