ABSTRACT

Locally produced drinks such as zobo drink serve as a vehicle for the transmission of food borne diseases, this study is aimed to evaluate the microbiological quality of zobo drinks sold within Umuahia. A total of 50 samples of zobo drink were collected from different sales point in ten locations within Umuahia metropolis. The samples were serially diluted and inoculated into Nutrient agar for total bacteria count. The samples were also inoculated into mannitol salt agar for total Staphylococcus count, Macconkey agar for total coliform count and Sabouraud dextrose agar for total fungal count. Results obtained showed that the total bacterial plate count ranged from 2.1 x iO4to 2.58 x 106 cfu/ml, total coliform count ranged from 3 x 10! to 6.6 x 102 cfu/ml, total Staphylococcus count ranged from 2.1 x i0 to 2.95 x i0 cful/ml. The bacterial isolated identified based on their morphological and biochemical characteristics are Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus spp, Klebsiella and Pseudomonas spp. The following fungi, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus stonfer, Fusariuin oxysporum, Penicillum expasum were also isolated. The bacterial and fungal load from zobo drinks sold in Umuahia is above 40 and the detection of E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Kiebsiella, Pseudomonas and Salmonella spp represent potential risk of food borne illness. Since, this study showed that the locally produced zobo drink are not produced with good hygienic practices, there are presence of possible pathogens that can cause food borne disease, so the producers should be educated on the standard operating procedure to be adopted during the preparation, packaging, storage and distribution of the drink