Microbiological analysis of different categories of food items in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Abstract

Pathogenic microorganisms have been so far reported to contaminate a wide range of foods triggering food borne infections or intoxications including the enteric complications, abdominal pain, fever, bloodstream infection etc. The current study was attempted to observe the microbiological quality of some popular foods collected from different places of Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Conventional cultural, microscopic and biochemical tests were followed for the detection and enumeration of bacterial isolates associated with these food samples. The investigation encompassed detection of total viable bacterial count (TVBC) and presumptive identification of other pathogenic bacteria from these samples. Higher counts of TVBC, coliform, Staphylococcus spp. and fungal load were recorded as 1.46×107 CFU/g (yogurt 1), 4.5×106 CFU/g (yogurt 1), 5.6×105 CFU/g (raw meat) and 2.9×103 CFU/g (sea fish), respectively. Fecal coliform was detected only in one out of ten samples. On the contrary Salmonella spp., Vibrio spp., Shigella spp. and Pseudomonas spp. were completely absent. The antibiogram study showed that all the isolates were sensitive against Kanamycin and Azithromycin. Better sensitivity was also observed against Gentamycin and Ciprofloxacin. Varying degree of antibiotic resistance was also detected against Cefixime, Amikacin and Neomycin. Our study emphasizes the need for continuous monitoring of the various categories of food samples for the safety of public health.