Microbiological quality of commercially available poultry feeds sold in parts of Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Food poisoning and infection by bacterial and fungal genera pose obvious health threat to both animals and humans. Pfizer, Guinea, Extra, Top, NOM and Master brands of feed sold in Owerri Metropolis were analysed for their bacterial and fungal quality. The genera of bacteria and fungi isolated and their percentage occurrence were Listeria spp. (10.4%), Staphylococcus spp. (50%), Bacillus spp. (27.1%), Pseudomonas spp. (12.5%), Escherichia coli (29.2%) and Salmonella spp. (25%), Aspergillus spp. (56.3%), Fusarium spp. (58.3%), Penicillium spp. (62.5%) and Rhizopus spp. (89.6%). The mean bacterial and fungal counts vary with samples while statistical analysis for the goodness of fit revealed no significant difference between the observed and expected values at 1.0% level.