The microbiological quality of ice used to cool drinks and foods

The microbiological safety of commercial ice used to refrigerate drinks and fish was evaluated using 40 ice samples collected from four ice manufacturing factories in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. All the samples were contaminated by bacteria and the microbial load ranged from 1.88 to 3.20 × 104 cfu/ml which is largely above the recommended loads of <500 and <1000 cfu/ml for ice obtained from manufacturing plants and retail outlets, respectively. The bacterial isolates obtained from the ice samples include Pediococcus cerevisiae, Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus firmus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus equi, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Micrococcus luteus. The degree of resistance shown by the isolates to the antibiotics differs ranging from 50-87.5%, with multiple-drug resistance to 4-7 antibiotics. The isolates showed 100 % resistance to Cotrimoxazole, Ampicillin, Cefotaxine and Cephalexin, while none of them was resistant to Gentamicin. The resistance to other antibiotics ranged from 26.67 % for Ofloxacin, 66.67 % for Erythromycin to 86.67 % for Tetracycline. The present study reveals that ice may represent novel route of spread of antibiotic– resistant bacteria especially in developing countries. In view of the results herein reported, it is highly recommended that national regulatory guidelines should be established for the production of ice. Commercial ice should be safe to consume and be of the same quality as drinking water because it is ingeste