Microbial Safety of Polyethylene Packaged Sliced Fruits Sold in Abeokuta, South-West Nigeria

Abstract

The microbiological quality of polyethylene packaged, sliced and ready-to-eat pawpaw, watermelon and pineapple fruits sold by street vendors in Abeokuta was assessed. Two hundred samples of RTE pawpaw, watermelon and pineapple fruits were collected from different street vendors and analyzed microbiologically. The mean aerobic plate counts ranged from 6.34 log₁₀ cfu/g to 8.99 log₁₀ cfu/g, total coliform counts ranged from 6.18 log₁₀ cfu/g to 8.43 log₁₀ cfu/g while the total fungal counts ranged from 6.18 log₁₀ cfu/g to 8.40 log₁₀ cfu/g. Bacteria isolated from these samples were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Proteus vulgaricus, Bacillus spp, Salmonella typhii, Shigella dysenteriae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa while the fungi were Penicillium spp, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Rhizopus spp, Fusarium spp, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Neurospora spp. The sources of microbial contamination could be from the rinse water, cross contamination like knives, trays and personnel, improper handling and the wrapping materials. The presence of food-borne pathogens of microbiological standards coupled with the high total microbial counts of the samples make the fruits to be microbiologically unsafe and they should be pre- treated thoroughly before for human consumption, so as to reduce the risk of food- borne outbreaks.

Keywords: Microbiological quality, polyethylene, sliced fruits, food-borne pathogens, human consumption