CULTURE-DEPENDENT MICROBIAL ANALYSIS OF HAWKED STREET FOODS IN UYO METROPOLIS, SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Background: Street foods have been associated with health problems to their consumers with increased risk of mortality and reduced quality of life due to poor food handling and sanitary practices. Objectives: To determine the occurrence of microbial agents in street foods through laboratory analysis and testing the response/resistance of pathogenic agents to anti-microbial drugs. Materials and Methods: This was a microbial analysis of 150 samples of cooked street food chosen from rice and stew, beans, cakes, peppersoup, moi moi and fried meat selected through systematic random sampling technique. Results: The highest occurrence of bacterial isolate was Vibrio sp with 60%, followed by Escherichia coli 53%, Streptococcus pneumoniae 49%, Aerococcus sp 48%, while Actinomyces and Shigella dysenteriae occurred at 36% frequency each. The most occurring mycological species were Saccharomyces sp 44%, Verticillum sp 37%, and Aspergillus niger 35%. On microbial sensitivity testing, Vibrio sp showed resistance to all antibiotics, E. coli showed moderate response to Erythromycin (30mm) and Shigella dysenteriae also showed moderate response to Chloramphenicol (31mm). Conclusions: Hawked street foods in Uyo Metropolis have shown to be of poor microbial quality