ABSTRACT

 Various pathogens are associated with the contamination of fruits and vegetables, with different outbreaks of gastroenteritis related, associated with the consumption of contaminated vegetables have been recorded at various times. This study was to evaluate the microbiological quality of ready to eat fruits and vegetables sold at different markets within Abia state. Fruit and vegetable samples were purchased from three different markets located within Abia state, Nigeria namely; Aba North, Umuahia Town and Uzoakoli markets. The samples were cultured on Nutrient agar, Potato Dextrose agar. Mannitol salt agar, MacConkey agar, and Salmonella shigella agar using pour plate techniques. From this study a total of five (5) bacterial and two (2) fungal species were isolated. The bacterial isolate includes; Bacillus species, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aurue.s, Salmonella species and Shigella species while the fungal isolates were Rhizopus stolonifer and Mucor alternaria. Sample from Umuahia Town market had the highest viable bacteria count at 8.3x103(cfu/ml) recorded for pineapples, followed by Aba north market (7.0x103 cfu/ml). recorded for salad, while the least viable bacteria count was found in Uzoakoli (2.2x10'cfu/ml). recorded for pineapple. The total viable fungal plate count investigated revealed samples from Umuahia Town market as having the highest viable fungi count at (8.7 xlO3) recorded for pawpaw, while the least viable fungi count at 2.9x103 was recorded for pineapples from Umuahia Town market. The percentage occurrence and distribution of bacterial isolates accessed on the ready to eat fruit and vegetable samples revealed that Escherichia coli was the most frequently occurring isolates with a high percentage occurrence, while Salmonella spp and Bacillus species had the least percentage occurrence. Among the fungal species, Mucor alternaria was reported as being the most predominant and occurring isolates while the least was recorded for Rhizopus stolonifer. The presence of these microorganisms in the ready to eat fruit and vegetable samples is of public health significance. Therefore, regular monitoring of the quality of commercially available fruit and vegetable for human consumption is recommended to avoid outbreak offood borne illness resulting from the organisms encountered in this study.