ABSTRACT

Food safety is a major issue of concern in the world. This is because unsafe foods pose global health challenges/threats. Foodborne diseases have been reported to cause about 48 million illnesses each year. These illnesses usually result from uncooked food of animal origin, fruits and vegetables contaminated with feces, raw shellfish and industrial pollution. Ready-to-eat foods do not require further preparation before consumption therefore they could contain pathogens that form part of their microflora thereby posing a public health challenge. They include foods such as salads that are eaten raw or fresh as they are gotten. Fresh vegetables can become contaminated by pathogens such as Salmonella at any point during the food production process either through contact with contaminated irrigation water, soil, manure and fecal matter of wild animals, polluted water used in its preparation, asymptomatic human carriers or the environment where the production process takes place. African salad is a staple food which is processed from cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) that contains lots of fresh and raw vegetables and some other ingredients consumed without further cooking. African salad is susceptible to microbial contamination during production, storage and sale which can lead to its spoilage and the secretion of some toxic substances such as aflatoxins by microorganisms that are of public health importance. The aim of this research is to determine the microbiological quality of African salad sold within Umuahia metropolis by roadside hawkers. To this end, samples were collected from five (5) different locations within Umuahia and isolation, enumeration and identification of the microbial isolates were done. Bacterial isolates identified in the African salad samples include Bacillus spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp, Samonella spp, Shigella spp and Serratia spp, while the fungal isolates were Aspergillus niger, Rhodotorula spp, Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium oxysporum. The mean Total Aerobic Plate Count ranged from 2.4 x 108 to 8.8 x 108, while the Total Coliform Plate Count ranged from 0.9 x 108 to 9.3 x 108 and Total Fungal Plate Count ranged from 3.7 x 108 to 7.9 x 108. Based on the specifications by International Commission for Microbiological Specification for Foods (ICMSF), the level of contaminations was unacceptable and could pose health challenges. From the results of this research, we can conclude that African salad cannot be stored beyond twenty-four (24) hours after preparation as was shown by the increase in microbial load during storage. The delicacy therefore, has to be eaten fresh and care has to be taken during its production in order to reduce the amount of contaminants introduced into the food.