A Study of Food Microorganism which are Involved in Food Borne Illness

Abstract

~00d borne diseases remain responsible for high levels of morbidity and mortality in the general ;'Vpulation, but particularly for at-risk groups, such as infants and young, children, the elderly .~. ... -~d the immuno compromised. In order to reduce the incidence and economic consequences of :ood borne diseases, the WHO Department of Food Safety has been assisting the Member States :0 establish and strengthen their programmes for assuring the safety of food from production to :Inal consumption. In the area around East West University, street vended food is very popular JIllong the students which are Microbiologically risks in food. The street vended food is :-~latively cheap. But the food is not very hygienic. Data from East West University medical .:~nter showed that a lot of students suffer from diarrhea, dysentery, viral hepatitis and enteric :-ever. In this study a total of 3 different food items (Sugar cane, pakura, piazu) were tested to see the contamination level. The food samples were first separately soaked in saline water for an hour. Then the liquid portion was the filtered. After that measured quantities of the liquid portion from each sample was inoculated in nutrient media and selective media (Nutrient Agar, \lacConkey Agar, TCBS Agar, XLD Agar and SS agar). The bacterial growths in the media :dates were checked. The colony morphology gave us a rough idea about what kinds of bacteria '.vere present.. The colonies from all the plates were taken and biochemical tests were perfornled on them to identify the different bacteria. For further confirmation of the identity of the bacteria, agglutination test for serotyping was performed in which specific antibody was used to identify :he specific bacteria. Among the food items tested pakura showed the highest level of .:ontamination with bacteria including E. coli, Salmonella and Shigella and also coliform .:ontamination .. Street vendors lack access to clean water, toilet facilities and operate under poor hygienic conditions. The government should take steps to ensure that the standard of safety of street vended food. The government authorities must enforce regulations during the preparation and selling of street vended foods.