ABSTRACT

Tomato and pepper are rich source of vitamins and also rich source of minerals which makes it an essential component of food. The microorganisms associated with the spoilage of physical damaged tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) and pepper obtained from three markets ( Isi gate, Ubani and Orie-ugba) in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria were evaluated. This analyses was conducted at two(2) days interval for a period of six days, using standard microbiological techniques. A total of five species of bacteria were isolated and identified as Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Klebsiella, Bacillus and Lactobacillus species,  while the fungal isolates isolated were Aspergillus and Penicillium species. The most prevalent bacteria isolated was Staphylococcus species with 27.3% in tomato and was found in all the samples while Klebsiella and Lactobacillus species was the least prevalent isolate with 9.1%. The most prevalent bacteria isolate in pepper was Bacillus species with 22.2% while Staphylococcus and Salmonella species were the least prevalent isolate with 11.1%. The most prevalent among the fungal isolate was Aspergillus with 27.3% in tomato and 33.3% in pepper. The microbial count of the physically damaged tomato and pepper fruit was higher compared to the count observed for fresh tomato and pepper fruit which was used as the control sample. Findings from this work revealed that the intake of spoilt tomatoes and pepper could be dangerous, since these organisms produced spores and toxins that could cause severe food poisoning that will result in disastrous outcome.