Microbial Quality of some Herbal Products in Benue State

Assessment of Microbial Loads, Species Characterization and Composition in Prawn (Macrobrachium vollenhovenii) Fillets from Major Wetlands in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

“…The results of the present study revealed that microorganisms present in prawns include both bacteria and fungi species including: The microbial organisms isolated from the samples were Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus albus, Escherichia coli, Micrococcus sp., Atrobacter sp., Salmonella sp., Candida tropicalis, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Mucor mucedo, Rhizopus sp., and Aspergillus terreus. Reports had shown that infection rates of these microbial agent on organisms are a reflection of the general infestation from the habitats, inappropriate processing, preservation and storage condition (FDA, 2007;Ella et al, 2013;Bassey and Effiong, 2016;Effiong and Isaac, 2019;Effiong and Obot, 2020;Bubu-Davies et al, 2023). The reports of the present study agreed with the work of Srinivasan et al (2015) who recovered similar organisms from the gut of farmed giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii.…”

“…Thus, leading to the contamination of the products and eventual health risk to the final consumers. The presence of Atrobacter freundii and Enterobacter aerogenes isolated from the prawn samples in the present study were also reported in selected brands of some herbal products (Ella et al, 2013) vended in Nigeria. The fungi species, Aspergillus flavus and A. niger observed in the studied prawn samples are of great health interest due to their mycotoxigenic potentials.…”