Bacteriological Examination of Utensils and Hands of Food Vendors in a University Cafeteria in Enugu, Nigeria

R. A. Afunwa, G. O. Igwe, E. C. Afunwa, C. U Ezebialu, M. N. Unachukwu and C. E. Okoli

Journal of Biology and Life Science, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 98-106

Abstract: The bacteriological quality of crockery, cutleries and hands of food sellers in a university cafeteria was determined. A total of one hundred and forty eight (148) samples were collected over a one month period and isolates were identified using morphological appearance on both selective and differential media and a series of biochemical test. The biochemical tests carried out were coagulase, indole, motility, catalase and oxidase. Antibiogram study was also carried out. The organisms identified were Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. The result of the sensitivity test showed 75% resistance to the conventional antibiotics used; namely, ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin, gentamycin, ampicillin and erythromycin. The total bacterial counts (cfu/ml) of the samples were 2.6× 107cfu/ml for hand swab, 8.0 × 105 cfu/ml for plates, 1.08 × 106cfu/ml for knives, 9.6 × 105cfu/ml for pots, 9.2 × 105cfu/ml for spoons and 1.62 × 106cfu/ml for tables. The results suggest high levels of microbial contaminants and calls for improved personal and environmental hygiene.

Keywords: crockery; cutleries; sensitivity; antibiotics; bacterial count (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jbls/article/view/14267/11297 (application/pdf)
http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jbls/article/view/14267 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mth:jbls88:v:10:y:2019:i:1:p:98-106

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Biology and Life Science is currently edited by Kelvin Lee

More articles in Journal of Biology and Life Science from Macrothink Institute
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Technical Support Office ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).