Microbiological quality and safety of some-street-vended foods in Jimma Town, Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

Street food vending has been benefiting both consumers, who are the in low socio economic status, as well as vendors, by creating job opportunities. However, street foods are perceived to be a major public health risk due to contamination. The objective of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality and safety of street-vended foods in Jimma town in Ethiopia. The study involved collection of socioeconomic data using structured questionnaire and laboratory analysis for microbial quality and safety. A total of 160 ready-to-eat street foods (40 each of firfir (mixture of majority of cabbage, watt, macaroni and injera), bread, injera (Ethiopian traditional food) and sambussa) samples were collected from Merkato, Kochi and Agip vending sites in Jimma. Result of the study shows that 85.5% of vendors were women, 54.5% had primary education, 90.9% did not use special apparel for their job as street food vendors, 80.9% handled food with bare hands, 49.1% used well water for cleaning of utensils, and 40% wore no hair covering. The mean microbial counts (CFUg -1 ) of food samples were dominated by aerobic mesophilic bacteria (5.0 ± 0.5), aerobic bacterial spore (4.0 ±0.4), lactic acid bacteria (4.0 ±0.4), Enterobacteriaceae (3.9 ± 0.6), staphylococci (3.7 ± 0.6), coliform (2.6 ± 0.4), yeasts (3.8 ± 0.5) and moulds (2.6 ± 0.4). Of the total 1697 isolates characterized, the most predominant were Bacillus spp. (41.96%) followed by Staphylococcus spp. (24.28%). Out of the food samples, 29.38% were positive for S. aureus and 13.13% samples were positive for Salmonella. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were resistant to maximum of six antibiotics (8.51%) but Salmonella had showed resistance to four antibiotics (14.29%). Generally, the microbial quality of street-vended food in Jimma town was poor and calls for special attention.

Bacterial Load Assessment of some Food Items Sold in Street in Woldia Town, North-East Ethiopia

“…Similarly, a study done in Ambo, Ethiopia 25 reported that the highest AMB count (2.6x10 3 CFUg -1 ) was observed in street vended foods. Another study done in Jima, Ethiopia 17 reported a mean aerobic mesophilic bacterial count of 10 5 ±3.16 CFUg -1 which was higher than the present study. The mean total count of Salmonella in the study area was 3.1x10 2 ±1.2x10 1 CFUg -1 which was in agreement with a study done in Hawasa, Ethiopia 22 .…”

Microbiological quality and presence of enteropathogenic bacteria in orange juice sold in popular markets

“…The total counts indicate that 86% of the samples had FC, with a highest average reading of 4.64 ± 0.04 Log CFU/ mL, forming three statistically distinct groups (p<0.05) and surpassing the permitted limit of FC > 2 Log CFU/mL. According to Reda et al (2017), the presence of thermotolerant FC can be attributed to fecal contamination of the water used to wash utensils, fruits, or transferred directly from the vendors, as well as the environment in which the juice is prepared, and leaving food at room temperature, as is the case of these juices, these can multiply to reach high concentrations.…”

Microbial dynamic and growth potential of selected pathogens in Ethiopian traditional fermented beverages

“…It is located at a latitude of about 7°13 to 8°56 N and longitudes of about 35°52 to 37°37E, an altitude ranging between 1720 to 2110 m above sea level, a mean annual rainfall of 800 to 2500 mm, and annual temperature ranging from 7 to 30°C. The town is typically known for vending various traditional fermented beverages and foods of plants and animal sources (Nemo et al 2017;Nemo and Bacha 2020).…”