Abstract

The nature and origin of indigenous traditional beer, makes it is prone to spoilage by a variety of microbiota in particular post-fermentation. In this study, samples of commercially and homebrewed indigenous traditional beer were collected using sterile sampling Whirl-pak^® bags from local informal brewers in typical marginal urban settlements of South Africa.  Both commercially and homebrewed traditional beer recorded the mean counts for total coliforms and Staphylococcus spp. circa 10⁵ cfu.ml^-1 whereas the mean TVC and total fungi counts amounted to 10⁶ and 10⁷ cfu.ml^-1, respectively. The counts from homebrewed indigenous traditional beer were about one log-phase higher than its commercial counterpart. Further characterisation of staphylococci identifiedStaphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus xylosus,Staphylococcus homonis and Staphylococcus saprophyticus. S. aureus was the dominant species in both traditional beers and S. saprophyticus and S. homonis were the least identified. The implementation of sanitation guidelines, licensing of informal brewers, training programmes in aspects such as good manufacturing practices, five keys to safer food is a prerequisite in the study area and the rest of South Africa.

Key words: Indigenous traditional beer, food safety, microbiota, staphylococci.