ABSTRACT

A total of fifteen (15) snuff samples were collected from five different markets in Umuahia, Abia State and the samples were transported to the laboratory and analyzed for bacterial contamination. One gram of each snuff sample was measured out, 10 fold serial dilutions was made and spread-plated on MacConkey, Nutrient agar, Blood agar and Saboraud dextrose agar and was incubated at 370C for 24hours. The isolated bacteria species after microbial analysis were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphyloccoccus aureus, Klebsiella spp, Bacillus spp while the fungal isolates include Penicillum, Mucor and Fusarium. The total Viable Bacteria Counts from the snuff samples used in this study ranged from 3.7x104 to 1.0x102. While the Total Fungal Counts from the snuff samples ranged from 3.5x103 to 1.3x103.  The percentage occurrence of the isolates showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa (33.3%) had the highest occurrence followed by Staphylococcus aureus (25%), Klebsiella spp (16.7%), Bacillus sp (13.9%) while Escherichia coli (11.1%) had the lowest occurrence. The fungal isolates shows that Penicillum  (38.5%), showed the highest occurrence followed by Mucor (34.6%) , while Fusarium (26.9%) recorded the least occurrence among the isolates. From this study it could be concluded that most snuff samples sold in markets in Abia State were contaminated by potentially pathogenic microbes. Good manufacturing process and improvement in the sanitary conditions of the markets will help in reducing such contamination.