COMPARATIVE ISOLATION, IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BACTERIA IN FOOD AND WATER FROM SELECTED CANTEENS IN AKURE AND ILARA-MOKIN, ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

*Momoh, A. O., Fadare, O. S., Asowata-Ayodele, A. M., Ogonnoh, O. B., Ayodele, A. M. and Richard-Egbegiri, F. O.

ABSTRACT

Background: There is a rise in infection as a result of food from canteens and restaurants in Ondo State. This research aims to verify weather cooked ready-to-eat-foods and water served at major canteens are the major vehicle of transmission of microorganisms. Also, to verify if the water served during the meal to customers meet the World Health Standard for drinking water rather than spread pathogenic microorganisms to customers. Methods: Prepared food and water served to customers were collected from two canteens each from Akure Ilara-Mokin respectively. They were analyzed using standard microbiological methods. The bacterial loads, type, antibiotic sensitivity and sequencing of the most common isolate from food and water was done for each canteen. Results: The predominant bacteria genera in food from Akure was Staphylococcus, while the ones from Ilara-Mokin was Klebsiella. The genera Klebsiella, Escherichia and Citrobacter were common to water from both towns. The highest bacterial load from food sample was 3.0×104cfu/gm, while that of water was 2.0×103cfu/ml. The 16S RNA sequencing and blast result confirmed the identity of isolate from Akure food sample to be Mammaliicoccus sciuri (accession number of KM243920.1) while from water sample was confirmed to be Escherichia coli with accession number CP099005.1. The one from Ilara-Mokin food was Klebsiella pneumoniae (accession number CP028391.2) while from the water sample was Escherichia coli with accession number of CP104618.1. All the three bottle water samples from the Elizade University school canteen were free of bacterial contamination and complied with World Health Organization (WHO) standard for drinking water. Conclusion: The results obtained have shown that the food and water samples from these canteens are far from the microbiological standard expected of them and needs improvement on the food safety level to prevent food borne infection.

Keywords:

Cooked-Food, Served-water, Bacteria, WHO-Standard.

Full Text Article