Bacteriological Quality and safety of Street Vended Foods in Delta State, Nigeria

Safety of food is a basic requirement of food quality. A total of 106 street food samples (fried meat, fried fish, bean porridge, owho soup, banga soup, egusi soup, starch, fufu, eba, stew, jollof rice and plain rice) were randomly obtained from nine towns (Agbor, Asaba, Obiaruku, Abraka, Sapele, Ughelli, Warri, Oleh and Patani) in Delta state, Nigeria. The samples were bacteriologically analysed using standard methods. All the screened food samples had varying level of bacterial contamination ranging from 1.2 x 102 to 1.1 x 107 cfu/g for total viable count and 36 MPN/g to 2100 MPN/g for total coliform count. 69% of the sampled foods had bacterial count above the acceptable limits (< 104 cfu/g), while 67% of the sampled food items had total coliform count exceeding the recommended safe level (< 100 coliform/g). Nine bacterial species were isolated from the foods sampled. The microorganisms were E. coli, Bacillus sp., S. aureus, E. faecalis, citrobacter sp., Proteus sp. Klebsiella sp., S. epidermis and Salmonella sp. More than one pathogenic microrganisms were isolated from fufu, owho soup, banga soups, egusi soup and starch. The present finding revealed that street foods are potential vehicles for transmitting foodborne illnesses, thus the need to develop practical strategies geared toward street food safety. Key words: street food, food contamination, pathogens, diseases, Delta state, Nigeria