Review of microbial food contamination and food hygiene in selected capital cities of Ghana

Abstract

Food poisoning is a nationwide challenge that arises from both formal and informal sector in the food industry. This review presents a general overview of microbial food safety and hygiene in Ghana. Information available shows that most microbial food researches were highly concentrated on the regional capitals of Ghana with particular emphasis on the capital cities. Commercial food operations, specifically street foods have received the most concern. However, there was limited information from institutional catering and other forms of food hazards. Based on the review, the most predominant bacteria isolated in Ghanaian foods were Enterobacter spp., Escherichia spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Pseudomonas spp. which were found to be present in 20, 16, 12 and 11%, respectively. The most contaminated food samples were soup, stew, “fufu”, macaroni, salad, and “waakye”. Most of the research articles did not present clearly, whether the bacteria isolated were above set standards from the World Health Organisation and Ghana Standard Authority and also did not give directions for future research. Hence, a concerted effort in research on food safety is needed in Ghana to prevent the incidence of food-borne diseases particularly the preventable ones.