Bacteriological Quality of Street Vended Ready to Eat Legume and Vegetable Based Foods in Bahir Dar Town, Amhara Regional State, North Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Street vending foods are readily available sources of meals for many people, but the microbiological quality of such foods have been always in doubt.The aim of this study was to determine the microbial quality of legume and vegetable based foods and the hygienic practices of streetlegume and vegetable based foods in Bahir Dar town. Sixty (60) food samples were collected from different locations for Aerobic mesophilic, total coliforms, fecal coliforms and Staphylococcus aureus counts based on standard methodsfrom December 2012 to July 2013. Out of the total samples, 28.3%, 33.3%, 18.3% and 51.7% of the foods were above acceptable limit for aerobic mesophilic count, S. aureus, total coliforms and thermotolerant, respectively. While S .aureus and thermotolerant coliforms were not detected in 1(21.7%) and 29(48.3%) of the food samples, respectively.  Only 7(11.7%) of the total sample was hazardous due to high mean count of S. aureus. There were no statistically significance differences(p>0.05) in bacterial counts between the two food items. On the other hands, most of the water samples used to wash ready to eat foods and utensils in food preparation were contaminated andabove WHO drinking water standards. In addition, an observational checklist showsa majority of the food handlers did not practice hand washing during food preparation and without reheating to serve prepared foods. Most of the ready-to-eat foods were contaminated and they can pose potential risks to consumers and therefore it requires the local authority emphasize on educating the ready-to-eat food handlers on food and personal hygiene to ensure the hygienic standards and food safety.

Key words/phrases:Bacterial count,Coliform, Contamination,Food hygiene, Street food