Microbiological Safety and Quality of Homemade Foods among Jimma University Community Primary School Students, and Growth Potential of Isolated Pathogens on Some Traditional Sauces, Jimma Town, Southwest Ethiopia

The study was carried out between March–June, 2013 to assess the microbiological quality and safety of various ready-to-eat foods from Jimma University Community School Students. Among 170 food samples assessed 18(10.58%) were vegetables, 24(14.11%) were rice, 17(10%) were spaghetti, 76 (44.70) %) were firfir, 26(15.29%) were legumes and the last 9(5.29%) were meat. The isolates were identified following the standard microbiological methods and data was analyzed using the one-way-ANOVA test. Bacterial growth was present in all the food types evaluated, high mean total aerobic count were observed in meat (5.44 log CFUg_1 ) followed by vegetables (5.27log CFUg_1 ) while rice had the lowest count (4.03logCFUg_1). The main identified organisms in this study were Bacillus (42.58%), S.aures (15.18%), pseudomonas spp.(3.79%), micrococus(22.41%), aeromans(1.33%), Entrobactor(12.5%), alcaligens(1.61%), and acintobactor(0.56%). Fortunately, Salmonella spp. was not isolated from spaghetti, meat and rice. The results indicated that most of the ready-to-eat food examined in this study did not meet the NSW, 2009 bacteriological quality standards, therefore posing potential risks to students. It is concluded that parents, the school administrators and others responsible personels needs to take measures that ensures the food quality and safety standards to reduce public health hazards. Keywords: contaminated foods, food safety, Hazards, pathogens, ready-to-eat food