Abstract

Twelve (12) different food types consisting of five (5) fully processed and seven (7) minimally processed ready–to–eat foods sourced from different areas of Kano metropolis were analysed for the presence of enteropathogenic bacteria from June – August, 2009. Enumeration of aerobic mesophilic bacteria using the aerobic plate count (APC) revealed that the mean count for all foods examined except zobo drink, exceeded the maximum acceptable limit (10⁵ cfu/g/ml) set by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The highest mean count of 1.60 × 10⁷ cfu/g was obtained for tomato, while the least count of 2.49 × 10⁴cfu/ml was recorded for zobo drink. Out of a total of 60 food samples analysed,Escherichia coli recorded the highest frequency of occurrence of 24 (46.6%), followed by V. cholerae with 15 (25.0%) while Salmonella typhi recorded the least occurrence rate of 6 (10.0%). Overall, the fully processed foods were observed to be less contaminated with enteropathogenic bacteria than the minimally processed foods. The results indicated that most of the ready–to–eat food samples examined in this study did not meet bacteriological quality standards. The implications of the results on human and environmental health are discussed.  

Key words: Enteropathogenic, bacteria, ready-to-eat, food, Kano.