Isolation of Microorganisms from Food Handler (Bread Sector) In Geidam Local Government Area, Yobe State, Nigeria

Abstract

Food handlers has become an important public health issue due to widespread of food-borne diseases and food vendors play an all-important role due to lack of adequate food safety measures. This study aims to assess microorganisms associated with food vendors in one of the most popular bread industries in Geidam LGA, Yobe state which is known as “Al heri bread industry”. Descriptive cross-sectional study and multistage sampling technique was adopted in this research, and a total of 64 food vendors were sampled. These food vendors were sampled using sterile swab sticks by aseptically swabbing their hands. The swabs were tested for bacterial and fungal contaminants. Among 64 food vendors (distributed into three group base on the kind of work the food handler is doing in the industry, i.e. 5 bakers, 8 loaders and 12 packagers.), a total of 376 bacteria and 59 fungi were isolated. The bacteria isolate from this study were S. aureus (21.01%), E. coli (23.14%), Salmonella enterica (13.03%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (17.02%), B. cereus (11.70%), Klebsiella spp (10.90%) and Serratia marcescens (3.2%). The fungi isolates were Aspergillus spp (37.29%), Microsporium canis (15.25%), Mucor spp (11.86%), Penicillium spp (10.17%), and Candida spp (25.42%). The questionnaire and observatory study adopted in this research showed poor personal hygiene and sanitary practices among food vendors. The findings of this study emphasized the importance of food vendors as potential vehicles for transmitting food-borne diseases and thus the need to adopt food safety measures geared towards maximum food safety is required.