Extent of microbial contamination of sausages sold in two Nigerian cities

Abstract

Three shops were randomly selected in Abeokuta (South-West Nigeria)
and Benin-City (South-South Nigeria) for the purchase of sausages which
were then screened for microbial contamination. For the Abeokuta
sausage samples the total aerobic counts ranged from 2.06-2.80 x 106
cfu/g; Staphylococcus aureus count :1.1- 1.47 x 106 cfu/g ;
Enterobacteriaceae count: 1.57- 2.17 x 106 cfu/g ; lactic acid bacteria
count(LAB) count :1.70 – 2.33 x 106 cfu/g. With respect to the sample
from Benin-City, the total aerobic count ranged from 3.54 x 106 cfu/g; S.
aureus count: 1.8 x105- 2 x 107; Enterobacteriaceae count: 5.09 x 108
cfu/g; LAB count :1.3 -4.6 x 108 cfu/g. Probable organisms isolated from
sausages sold in Abeokuta were E. coli, Streptococcus sp., Clostridium
sp., Klebsiella sp., Shigella sp., Pseudomonas sp., Lactobacillus sp., and S. aureus while those organisms isolated from sausages sold in Benin-City
include Salmonella, Proteus, Shigella, S. aureus, Klebsiella and
Lactobacillus sp. Most of the sausages sampled were therefore considered
to pose health risk to consumers, making it imperative to institute not only
sanitary measures during processing, storage and marketing but also to
ensure steady source of power supply.
(Afr. J. Biomed. Res. 9:133 - 136 , May 2006)

Keywords: microbial contamination, sausages, Nigeria.