ABSTRACT

This study was aimed at assessing the microbiological quality of selected baked snacks within Umuahia.The samples were processed in the ten-fold serial dilution technique and appropriate inoculum (0.1ml) plated out into Nutrient Agar, MacConkey agar, Mannitol salt agar,SalmonellaShigella agar and potato dextrose agar(PDA) using pour plate techniques. This revealed the major bacterial isolates to beSalmonella species, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiellaspecies and Bacillus species, while the microscopic and cultural characteristics revealed three (3) fungal strains belonging to Fusariumoxysporum, Rhizopusstoloniferand Mucorspecies. The total viable microbial counts evaluated in this study varied from one sample to the other. Amongst the four (4) different baked productsinvestigated however within Umuahia, Doughnut had the highest viable bacteria count of 8.40x105cfu/g, followed by Eggroll (7.92x105cfu/g), while the least viable bacteria count was recorded on meat pie (1.08x105cfu/g). The total viable fungal plate count investigated on the different baked products, reveals meat pie obtained from Ubakala Market as having the highest viable fungi count of 4.70x105cfu/g and Fish Roll obtained from Ishi-gate having the least viable fungi count with (1.36x105cfu/g). The contamination rate and percentage distribution on the different baked products revealed that Escherichia coli had the highest percentage occurrence on the baked products at 61(21.9%), followed by Klebsiellaspecies(12.9%), Staphylococcus aureus 35(12.5%) while the least was recorded for Salmonella species at17(6.1%). However, there were slight variations in the fungi population, with Mucorspecies 26(9.3%) being most predominant and occurring isolates, followed by RhizopusStolonifer8(8.6%). Therefore, the need of the hour is to control the microbial growth in baked products by using preservatives from natural sources.